Puppy Lover
by Icegazer
Summary: This is the first in a four part series. Michelangelo & OC. When Danny (red head from the first movie) asks the four brothers to help a friend in desperate need, they didn't truely understand what they were getting into.
1. Default Chapter

**Disclaimer:** The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles belong to Mirage Studios, Peter A. Laird, and Kevin B. Eastman. I use them without permission, and without monetary profit.

**Author's Notes:** I grew up with the TMNT and they've always held a soft spot in my heart. Even when I was little, it always disturbed me that there weren't any girl turtles for the boy turtles and - being the hopeless romantic that I am - would daydream about them meeting girl turtles.

It took until now for me to write a fanfic to fulfill my childhood dream of seeing the turtles living their Happily Ever After. I'd like to think I've matured since then (hahahahaha) so I'm hoping they read as something more than what they are - mushy romance novels.

So, the stuff you need to know before you read this fanfic saga: because my knowledge of the TMNT world are the three movies and half-remembered characters from the first cartoon, and about two episodes of the newest cartoon, I'm going to make up my own timeline for them. Essentially all that exists is the first movie (which is my all time favorite, I STILL know the entire soundtrack by heart).

Some other things you need to know. He may be an important part of the TMNT universe but Shredder, to me, is so dead. He's boring, he's overdone, so lets just pretend that being crushed in a trash compactor really did kill him like it would any other human on the face of the planet.

Age-wise they are all sixteen (it's been about a year since the whole Shredder thing. Also, the five are still living in their sewer home. After the defeat of the Shredder, and a couple of squabbles with leftover Foot, the lair they grew up in was safe enough to inhabit again. About their sewer home - they have no electricity, and even if they had the ability to wire some electrical currents into their abode, they wouldn't because of the danger of being electrocuted. The sewers are damp and smelly. They use candles all the time and are very used to moving around in pitch-black darkness.

That should be about it. I hope you enjoy the fanfic, and thanks for actually reading this instead of skipping it to go straight to the fanfic! I appreciate it.

**Chapter One: **

"DAMN!!"

Michelangelo jerked his head up from the board game they were playing by candlelight and shared a confused glance with Donatello. Moments later their red masked brother stormed into the entrance of their sewer home and quickly disappeared in the direction of his room.

Mikey blinked, then scrunched his eye ridges and opened his mouth. Donatello shrugged his shoulders in response before Mikey asked his question.

"You know how Raph gets sometimes." Donny explained. "Most likely a bad guy got aw-..."

A loud crashing sound came from the direction of Raphael's room, and both of the brothers bolted upright from the couch they had been sitting on. Concerned Raph had hurt himself, they raced to his room and ducked out of the way just in time as a recliner flew out of Raphael's room to smash against a curved wall and fall onto the sewer floor.

"What the hell are you doing?!" Donatello yelled, adrenaline rushing through his veins - if he had been a moment slower, that recliner would have gotten too friendly with his head!

A cry of inarticulate rage was his only response. Raphael was kicking things on the floor of his room, ripping the sheets off his bed, picking his mattress up and bending it in half, throwing battery-powered radio and flashlight in the same direction as the recliner. Mikey and Don ducked out of the way quickly.

His actions had blown out all of the candles dispersed through the room to light it up enough to see. The room was an inky black and it made the terrible noises Raphael was making more heart wrenching. His breath shuddering in and out of his lungs punctuated by a growl or grunt of effort and a low keening.

Completely shocked and frightened at the same time, clueless to what could put Raphael into such a state, Michelangelo and Donatello could only stand outside of the room while their brother wore himself down and shattered his possessions into pieces.

And then a whisper of movement passed the two in the direction of the room.

In the room Raphael stumbled and fell onto his rear end, breaking some more of the belongings sprawled on the floor. In the dark he grabbed something and hurled it at the wall, quickly clearing the floor around him. When he had nothing left to throw he punched the concrete floor and ignored the pain as he bloodied his knuckles and fingers.

He didn't even flinch when he felt the familiar touch of Splinter's paw on his head. He was beyond caring, beyond the pain. He couldn't stop the sobbing and he listened to himself, detached from it all. He sounded like such a pussy, whimpering and snuffling in the darkness. He was thankful no one could see him. He would be too embarrassed afterwards - when feeling came back - to leave his room for a month otherwise.

"What ails you, my son?" Splinter's voice sounded in the darkness. Raphael ignored him and continued to beat at the floor, jerking his head away from the gentle loving paw. If he turned towards the paw, he'd break down completely, exposed and vulnerable.

Splinter brought his paw back to his side, not really expecting a response, so he didn't ask again and instead eased down into a crouch.

"She is not worth your tears." He murmured his voice barely a whisper. Raphael froze.

Splinter rose very slowly, accepting the pain from bone and muscle wear due to the years he'd lived. Even though he had only been squatting for a short period of time, his muscles and bones were complaining of the strain so he left the room slower than he had entered it. Mikey and Donny shuffled out of the way as Splinter joined them in the hall and held their silence while the thick blanket that hung from a taught bungee cord that served as a door was twitched into place.

They followed Splinter to what approximated as their living room, brimming with concern and anxiety that they had no clue what was going on, or how to fix whatever the problem was.

"I fear that I suspect what is the matter." Splinter sighed and sat on the sofa. Mikey quickly sat down beside the rat and Donny settled for sitting on the floor at Splinter's feet next to the coffee table they'd been playing their board game on.

"Why? What's the matter with Raphael?" Donatello asked, casting a glance back at Raphael's room where it was ominously silent.

"It is not my place to share his personal life, but I know Raphael has experienced true heart break this night."

Mikey blinked. "Wow, I mean, yeah, I get a little disappointed when I don't defeat me some bad guys too, but I don't get that worked up about it."

Splinter slowly turned his head to stare at Michelangelo who visibly shrunk under the older mutant's gaze. Giving a goofy smile as an offer of apology, he made a gesture of zipping his lips.

"So, what, Raphael got rejected by a girl?" Donatello guessed. Out of all of the brothers, Raphael made it a frequent point to travel topside the most and all of the friends the mutants had were met through Raphael. It irritated Splinter to no end, but Raphael was a law unto himself and refused to be controlled unless it was his choice. It was only logical that Raphael would be the first to meet a girl and fall in love.

They certainly weren't going to meet any hot babes down here in the sewers.

"Your assumptions are your own." Splinter warned and the teen nodded in acknowledgement. "We will let Raphael heal on his own. Do not disturb him."

The two promised not to mess with their brother, and in silent agreement turned their collective attention to the board game. The brothers started their half-played game of Trouble over and added playing pieces for Splinter.

In deference of their sensei they let him move first. The rat reached over and pressed down on the middle, and because the thin plastic bubble in the middle was shattered, snatched the die out of the air. Mikey and Donny leaned over to read the dots on the die and moved one of Splinter's pieces accordingly - not because Splinter couldn't do it for himself, but because they were eager for their own turns.

Splinter allowed them to because their enthusiasm entertained him.

Leonardo strolled in later on in the night. The boys did not have a curfew, nor were regulated to a certain circumference from their den. It wasn't unusual for Leo to return early in the morning from patrolling the sewers, making sure there weren't any minor crimes happening while he was aware of it. If he got wind of something big, he rushed home to collect his brothers and ride to the rescue.

Normally the boys kept their crime-fighting to a every-other-week venture, but Leonardo was determined to save every life he could. He had his work cut out for himself, but he was succeeding so far. The crime rate had gone down and a lot of people were sleeping in their home feelings a little safer.

"Nothing interesting?" Michelangelo asked, noting how unhurried and relaxed Leonardo's gait was.

"Wha? Oh, yeah. Typical stuff. Nothing major. What are you playing?"

"Trouble, want to join?"

Leo nodded his head and sat on the floor on the other side of Donny while they gave him game pieces and started over.

Splinter caught Leonardo's eye, and the teen raised his eye ridges in a silent question.

"I advise you to steer clear of Raphael for a while."

"Huh? Why, what's wrong with Raph?"

Mikey took an exaggerated deep breath to gain attention and gestured wildly. "Oh my god, Raph had a conniption fit! He tore his room up to itty-bitty pieces and was making all these noises, he sounded like a wounded animal, man, it was horrible. He threw his recliner at our heads, and the candles puffed out and it was really scary."

"[Michelangelo that is enough!]" Splinter barked in Japanese and Mikey flinched violently like a guilty boy. Their sensei spoke Japanese when English had become too laborious to try to speak. Usually it was when he was irritated or angry. The rat turned his attention to Leonardo. "Raphael was venting much emotions and needs time to himself to heal."

"Yes Master Splinter." Leo said dutifully and pointedly turned his attention to the board game, though his mind wasn't on it. What in the world had set Raphael off? At his worst he only made half as much damage, and never to his own stuff.

"You're turn, Leo." Donny nudged Leo out of his thoughts, and Leo automatically snatched the catapulting die out of the air.

They played a couple of games before they got bored and put the game up. Even though where the den was located had no place that would allow sunlight to shine in, the turtles were aware that it was several hours after dawn and that meant bedtime. There wasn't a real large fight for staying up any later because Splinter expected the boys to wake up before the sun had set for two hours of training. Mikey mainly pleaded with a stoic Splinter because there was just something seductive about doing something you're not supposed to.

However Mikey was well trained enough to beg to be allowed to stay up past his bedtime instead of just doing it when Splinter wasn't looking. Mainly because, even when any of the boys tried slipping something past the old rat, the old rat proved to them he was still young enough to whip their rear ends into submission.

Splinter didn't always raise a hand to his adopted sons. When he did it was never done maliciously - and all of them fervently agreed they'd rather experience the flat side of his fist (which could be avoided if they were fast enough) than the sharp side of his tongue (which always hit its mark). Their sensei knew full well how to keep them in line.

Just as the turtles were straightening up the room in preparation for bed, noises caught their attention and they tensed, blowing out the majority of the candles and taking strategic places before the entrance to the den where the noises were coming from.

The sound of two pairs of feet pounding down into an inch of water along the sewer passageways was loud in the silence. They were running fast, but as they neared the turn that lead to the den it slowed, alerting the waiting figures that whoever was visiting knew where they were going.

"H-hello?" A unsure, young male voice called out, the sound of skin running over the wall of the sewer - he was using a hand to steady him so the boy didn't trip or run into something. The voice was familiar, and it startled Leonardo out of his wary stance.

"Danny?" Leonardo asked, his surprise tinting his voice. "What are you doing here, is something wrong?"

Danny let out a sigh of relief. He called out into the inky darkness, "I've got this friend. She's in real big trouble and she needs help. I thought - could you help her? Please?"


	2. 2

**Disclaimer:** The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles belong to Mirage Studios, Peter A. Laird, and Kevin B. Eastman. I use them without permission, and without monetary profit.

**Chapter Two:**

"Leonardo?" Danny asked, his voice hesitant since no one had responded to him yet.

"Does she know?"

"No." It sounded like the human teen hadn't thought that far. "I panicked, she needed help and you guys were the only ones I could think of."

"That's okay, it's fine, it's just..." A sigh sounded. "She might not like our help." There was shuffling and then a flicker of light as Donatello lit a candle, then another.

Slowly more and more of the area was revealed as more and more candles were lit until Chassidy could see figures shifting in the flickering light of what looked like a cavern. Then again maybe the dancing flames made them look like they were moving when they weren't. Her black eye was so swollen it had forced her eyelid closed. She knew she looked horrible, but right now she was too tired to care about first impressions.

There was furniture, which surprised her. A sewer was the last place she'd want to spend enough time to need something comfortable to sit on. The air was wet and humid, and while in this room the air smelled like scented candles, musty fabric, and smoke, the air behind me stank like mingled human waste. If it weren't for the candles, the place would be completely without light.

From the shivering light that was being cast, Chassidy could see the people waiting in the room were bulky, and a thought flashed in her head - maybe they were disfigured people who sought refuge from human cruelty here. The one who was shifting around, lighting the candles and a few oil lamps showed his disfigurement from a couple of different angles.

His head was an odd melon shape, wider than a normal person's and completely bald. Though he had normal appearing arms and legs, his body was a lumpy oval shape, like he had a growth on his back and a beer-gut at the same time. Though from a profile view, his stomach looked unnaturally flat, angular flat while his back was smoothly rounded from his neck to his butt. The light shone off of his skin and either it was the swelling from her black eye, or exhaustion affecting her vision, but he looked... green.

Then the guy picked up a candle and turned with the light close enough to his face for Chassidy to see.

"Oh my god," the girl whispered, blinking in the hopes that her vision would clear. "What _are_ you?"

"Turtles." He replied. And he looked like one, maybe if a human were to be mixed with a turtle. That explained his skin shade. The hump on his back wasn't a growth, but a shell, and the flatness of his torso was a plastron. Chassidy took a deep breath and slowly let it out.

"Uh, wow."

"They're good guys. They helped me once, and they can help you too. They're ninja like the Foot, so they can protect you from Stone." Danny encouraged, stepping away from the girl so she no longer stood half behind him. "Chassidy, these are my friends Leonardo, Donatello, and Michelangelo. Guys, this is Chassidy Jefferson." She became very aware that all eyes were on her and her less-than-perfect appearance now.

Her left eye was swelling shut, the skin an unhealthy purple and yellow. She had several nicks on her face, a bloody lip in two places, and a broken nose, which was also adding to the discoloration and swelling. Danny had barely recognized her, and it was her voice that had made him jump into action.

They had been friends once, back when she had had friends, before Stone shortened her leash. Danny was a kindred spirit - an only child acting out against a family that didn't pay that much attention to him in the first place. They had lost touch once he joined the Foot. She had gone there only a couple of times, but she hadn't liked "Master" Shredder at all and split.

Even though Stone had been part of the Foot as well, he hadn't let her come to any of the meetings, and she was just fine with that. All that mattered to her was that he protected her from the big bad nasty that was the real world.

After Stone had beat her earlier that night she decided she was much better off on her own. She wasn't going to die at his hands.

It had taken her a while to find Danny since he wasn't hanging around the same places anymore. She had found out that Danny hadn't been part of the Foot since the Shredder had died. Chassidy had ended up tracking him down at a youth hostel, and his reaction to the sight of her let her know exactly how much damage Stone had done - Danny hadn't bothered to hide his reaction.

He had told her of a place she could lay low for a while. At least until she knew that Stone wasn't looking for her. If Stone found she knew he would kill her. He didn't give up his possessions easily. He had threatened her on more than one occasion when he thought she was cheating on him, screaming at her while he had her hair fisted in his palm, her head arched back to a painful angle, that if he couldn't have her, no one could.

Chassidy had balked when Danny had pulled off a manhole cover and climbed into the sewers. She hadn't been all too sure she wanted to go through with this, but the look in Danny's eyes, reminded her of what her other choice was, she put aside her squeamishness and climbed down the ladder.

Now that she looked at them more closely, it wasn't that the three turtles standing about in the underground room were scary. They weren't. Normal turtles didn't really bring to mind blood and gore and primal instincts, and they weren't snarling or snapping or gnashing their teeth at her. It was how human they seemed. They could speak, and they looked at her like any other person would, like there was an intelligent mind there. It was daunting to be standing next to something that wasn't quite human.

People liked to anthropomorphize everything from clouds to other animals, but this was totally different.

_No wonder they lived in the sewers. If the media got wind of them, they'd be dissected and put into breeding programs and possibly cloned. Why were they like this? Had they been born that way? And if they had been, why were they _here_, of all places?_ Chassidy watched warily as the three turtles shifted about to clear a chair nearby and waved her into it.

Donatello knelt by her side and tipped her chin up to inspect the damage. "Blunt force trauma." He turned to the others. "Someone was mighty angry; she's got defensive wounds."

"That's not right." Mikey shook his head, his voice sad and angry at the same time.

"So, can she stay?" Danny asked, he sounded worried and anxious.

The three turtles turned to a fourth figure who Chassidy hadn't seen before then because he had been blocked from her view by their shifting and bulky bodies. She wasn't that surprised to see a large humanoid rat with his hand on the back of a chair towards the back of the room. She started to nervously fidget.

This was their leader, and her safety rested in his paws. Suddenly she realized how much of a threat she was to them. By bringing her down here, Danny endangered their current existence if she were to use her knowledge against them. She stared at the floor, her body tensed, anticipating the "no" that was sure to come from him.

"Yes, we will help. Leonardo, ready a room." Splinter sounded tired. Like he hadn't wanted to say yes, but he could not have said anything else.

"Yes, Master Splinter." Swiftly Leonardo went into a tunnel entrance to ready a dry spot for her to sleep on, picking blankets off of couches and chairs as he passed.

"Come here child." The rat summoned while he eased himself into a recliner. Chassidy rose with a wince from sore muscles and aching bruises, and dragged a stool closer to the recliner.

"As you can see my sons and I are not what you might consider normal." Chassidy gave a small smile, her face hurting too much to do more than that. "Because of this we must stick to the shadows, invisible, and unknown. If the world were to know we existed, we would not be allowed to live our lives as we see fit."

Donatello showed up again, kneeling at Chassidy's side, this time with a first aid kit and proceeded to treat the smallest of her wounds silently so her attention wasn't pulled from the mutant rat for too long.

"The sewers, while not fragrant, are ideal for our way of life, and we wish to keep it this way. It would greatly please me if you were to give me your word that you will not speak of our existence or our home."

Chassidy shook her head eagerly. "No, not a word. I promise, I swear. I'll never say anything. It's the least I can do for the help you guys are giving me." She hastened to assure Splinter. She would have sworn anything he asked her at that moment.

"Honor your word. It should not be given lightly for it is not taken lightly."

Chassidy stared at Splinter for a long moment, considering the situation. Though she had no friends, no people to tell their secret to, she wouldn't have said anything to anyone anyway. Secrets were sacred to her because she understood the need to have them.

"I won't breathe a word." She said firmly, her eyes locked on Splinter's black ones so he understood she was being serious. The rat blinked slowly and inclined his head to her.

"You are welcome into our home. May you find peace, and freedom from your pursuers."

"Thank you."

With that Donatello gently turned Chassidy's face toward him and tended the large of her wounds, putting a salve on her black eye. He made noises of disgust and sympathy while he worked and she couldn't help but like him for it. He showed more concern for her than she expected from a stranger.

"Thank you too." She mumbled. He had her chin in his three-fingered hand and she didn't want to move her face around too much while he was touching tender, bruised skin.

He shook his head in response, his attention still firmly on his work.

"So." Michelangelo said loudly. Chassidy turned her eyes in his direction, and the orange masked turtle stepped closer to his brother so she could pay attention to him without moving her head. "Got any questions, requests, or preferences?"

"Huh?"

"You know, why do we exist, you need a night light, you can't sleep without your Binky, and your favorite food is pizza?"

"Don't make her talk, I'm busy here." Donatello warned, and Mikey made a face behind Donny's back.

"Any games you like to play, books you like to read? We don't have electricity down here so we don't have a TV or a computer. We have to go to April's if we're going to get any of that."

"Michelangelo, go help Leonardo." Splinter suggested firmly and the orange masked turtle moped off, grumbling to himself.

"I need to go home." Danny said to Splinter after he had reassured himself that Chassidy was okay and going to be looked after. "My dad worries and it's getting late." He sent a 'what can you do?' look to Splinter, and the rat's eyes shined with amusement. The boy before him today was very different from the boy he had first met in Shredder's Foot warehouse. No longer was he bitter and rebellious. He seemed calmer, happier.

"Return to your father, Danny."

"Thank you, Master Splinter." The red head said again and waved as he left the den. "Bye, Donny."

"Later Danny." Donatello called finally turning his attention away from Chassidy to wave. "Don't worry, we'll take care of her."

Danny nodded, and waved to Chassidy who waved back.

"Well, since you're breathing fine, I don't think the break in your nose needs to be set. But we do need to make sure that you don't get a blood clot." He told her as he placed a makeshift but solid-looking splint on her nose. "You're going to have a crooked nose, though. You can get cosmetic surgery to fix that if it bothers you too much."

Chassidy sighed and shook her head. "Doesn't matter." It wasn't like she was a super model in the first place.

Donny grinned at her - or at least, she thought he grinned at her - and said "Makes me kind of glad we don't have noses." She gave a weak smile in return. "Except for Splinter, but no one can get close enough to break his nose."

Seeing that Chassidy wasn't appreciating his line of conversation he mentally shrugged and packed the first aid kit up. "Leo should have your sleeping place set up by now. Oh," he turned to her, his face very serious. "Don't go into the room with the red and black plaid blanket over the entryway. That's Raphael's room, and he's not feeling so hot right now."

"There is another one of you?" Chassidy hated that she had asked that once the words were out of her mouth.

"Yeah. He's a bit of a hot head, so watch out."

She nodded and shuffled in the direction that Leonardo and Michelangelo had disappeared in.


	3. 3

**Disclaimer:** The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles belong to Mirage Studios, Peter A. Laird, and Kevin B. Eastman. I use them without permission, and without monetary profit.

**Chapter Three:**

Chassidy spotted the red and black plaid blanket and gave it a wide berth, though she couldn't help holding her breath to catch any noise that came from the room behind it. She didn't hear anything though and cursed her curiosity. Really, she was being too nosy.

She heard voices and followed them, hoping they were in the room that was going to be her bedroom because she didn't want to intrude into their rooms.

She guessed that they were still working on setting the room up because there were a lot of raggedy boxes out in the hallway and more than a few weapons littered on the floor. There was an adjustable metal rod with rubber ends in the entryway, and a shower curtain with a beach scene on it hanging from the rod, pushed to one side. Inside Leonardo was dragging a thin twin mattress into a corner and Michelangelo shuffled after him, a large clump of blankets and sheets rolled up in his arms. There were candles stationed on the floor and on a couple of boxes, lighting up enough of the room for the boys to work in.

"My room?" She asked. Mikey turned around, flashed a big grin and nodded.

"It's a little small, and there's a lot of stuff in here 'cause we mainly use it for storage." He chattered happily, dropping his bundle on the mattress when Leonardo stepped away from it. "We got the big stuff out of the way. If you want we can clear everything out of here."

Chassidy waved both of her hands in a negative gesture. "Oh, no, don't do that. I won't be here for very long, I can put up with the clutter."

"We don't know how long you really will be here, so perhaps it's better that we do clear everything out of here." Leo told her, helping Mikey make up the bed.

"You don't have to, I don't want to me any more of a nuisance than I am."

"It's no hassle. We don't want you running into things and hurting yourself when the lights are all out."

"Please don't worry about it. It'll be okay." Chassidy pleaded, bringing a few of the boxes from the hallway back into the room and organized them against the wall. "I just need enough space to move around, and I'll be fine."

"If you say so." Mikey shrugged and then patted the finished bed. Leonardo scoured the area for any remaining weapons and then bowed out of the room.

Once Leo was gone, Mikey turned to Chassidy and rubbed his hands together. "So, about your likes and dislikes - if you're going to be staying with us, it's better that we know so we don't get on each other's nerves. Though you're going to have to like pizza. It's not a debatable issue. Pizza. The end."

Chassidy stared at him for a while. "Good thing I like pizza then."

Mikey shook his head. "No. You have to _like_ pizza."

Leonardo poked his head in the door. "Mikey, lay off. We don't eat pizza _all_ of the time."

"Just most of the time." Michelangelo amended.

Chassidy felt her eyebrows raise, even though it made the pain worse. "You're being serious."

The two turtles looked at her. They were being serious.

"Um, maybe I'll eat dinner somewhere else every now and then."

Donatello came into the room with some pills and a bright pink plastic cup filled with water. "I come bearing relief. Sort of." He handed her both the pills and the cup and pointed to the three pills that were lying in her hand. "Two Tylenol for the pain and to help the swelling go down and that one is vitamin C to help heal the bruises."

"Thank you."

"I think we should leave so she can rest and perhaps get some sleep." Leonardo suggested, turning to pointedly stare at Mikey who was pretending to not catch the hint. Chassidy watched with some amusement as Donatello rolled his eyes at his brother and bodily pulled him out of the room.

"Wah, hey! I was in the middle of a conversation!"

"Not anymore you're not."

"That's not fair, you guys are boring, she's interesting."

"She's not a toy and she's been through a great deal tonight so she needs time to wind down and be _alone_." Leo sounded exasperated, like he was talking to a small, stubborn child.

"But alone is boring!" Mikey protested. Donny groaned at his brother's actions.

Chassidy smiled to herself and took the pills, placing the empty cup of water on the stack of boxes that reached up to her waist. She pulled the shower curtain so that it acted as a barrier between her and the rest of the sewers and provided her some privacy. She could still hear the others bickering, but she ignored them, it helped to make her feel like she was alone.

First she took a crate from the jumble that was at the foot of her bed and placed it beside the mattress so it acted as a pseudo-nightstand. Then she stacked the boxes all together, and unrolled a rug to place on the floor beside the mattress, and looked through the posters that were rolled up and propped up against the wall. All of them were geared towards boys so she decided to put up with gray, curved concrete walls. She shifted the candles around so there was light in the part of the room that she'd spend the most amount of time in.

She felt accomplished; she had more walking space, and there wasn't clutter perched here and there, likely to fall while she was sleeping and wake everyone up. The fact that she hadn't slept since yesterday and it was in the early hours of morning was catching up with her. Making sure there wasn't something else she should do, she blew out all of the candles and went to sleep

Leonardo made an extra effort to be silent the following night because his room was the closest to Chassidy's. He was normally the first one up, beginning his practices for the night before any of the others so his sessions were longer. He was very dedicated to the art of ninjitsu, and Splinter encouraged this most of the time.

He was only slightly surprised to find Raphael in the area of the sewers, a place similar to the den just on the other side of the bedroom area, that served as their dojo. He hadn't expected to see Raphael out of his room for a week after Splinter cautioned him to steer clear of his temperamental brother. The two of them had a habit of getting into fights.

It wasn't that they hated each other, were jealous of each other, or even felt one was better than the other - the opposite in fact. Leonardo wanted what as best for his brother because he knew his brother didn't care. Raphael had something of a death wish and Leo wanted to see his brother die of old age. However, Raphael didn't take too kindly to Leo's well-meant intervention and so they fought. A lot.

I aggravated Leonardo that Raphael was so stubborn, and cared so little about everything. Sure, there were things Raph cared about, but lately he'd been neglecting his responsibilities, and even though Leo accepted none of his brothers took responsibility as seriously as he did, it irritated him.

Leonardo, full aware that his brother was hurting from something and therefore would be easy to be offended, said nothing as he walked fully into the room and over to the wall where his swords were stored.

Raphael stopped his kata, stared a hole in the back of Leonardo's head challenging him to say something so he could start a fight between them, and when Leo pointedly ignored him, he made a disgusted noise and continued his kata. Leo wasn't worth the effort anyway.

Raphael put himself through all of the katas he could think off, starting with the simple ones and ending with the more complicated ones where he fought numerous invisible opponents. Leonardo did some warming up before joining his brother in katas. They worked in silence, their movements oddly in tandem with one another though they were concentrating on their own bodies.

Leonardo pretended he didn't notice Raphael sneaking off five minutes before he could hear the sounds of their two remaining brothers waking up and making their way to the dojo. If Raphael wanted to lick his wounds in private, that was find with him.

Mikey greeted Leo with a wide, noisy yawn. Donny patted Leo on the shoulder and began partner stretches with Mikey while Leo worked with his swords, the sound of metal slicing the air setting up a rhythm for the other two to stretch to.

Splinter appeared in the room as silently as always and his boys made no noises of surprise. They were used to by now how the old rat got around so silently. When they were younger they were in awe of that ability. When they themselves had honed their sneaking skills, the awe turned into amazement because no matter how hard they tried, they could still sense each other sneaking, but never Splinter.

Master Splinter made no comment about Raphael's absence so they didn't ask any questions.

Chassidy woke for the final time to the sound of kiyas.

She had had a restless night of sleep, waking to every little sound, real or imagined. She knew in the back of her mind that she wasn't sleeping in her own bed. There wasn't enough natural light in the room and so she kept waking up to glance at a clock that wasn't there. The fact that she didn't have a clock - or a watch - left her feeling helpless. How was she supposed to know when to get up to go to work?

Could she go to work? Stone knew where she worked and she didn't want to chance running into him. Not to mention the bruises she was sporting. Her work didn't like it when she looked like a truck had hit her; it made the customers nervous.

The pain from multiple, throbbing bruises wasn't helping her either. In her sleep she flopped over onto a bruise and the pain built until she woke up. She would shift until she found a comfortable position only flop over onto another bruise.

In the end she felt more exhausted than if she had stayed awake the entire time. At least then she would have only suffered from boredom.

Giving up she decided to try to find something to eat more out of something to do since hiding in the room she'd been given wouldn't make her feel any safer. She was curious about the noise coming from the other end, but knew that she would only be in the way, so she went in the opposite direction.

Chassidy realized exactly what "no electricity" meant when she looked for a refrigerator. Instead she found three nearly empty bags of chips and a box of pizza on a raggedy looking fold-up table, and in the box only one slice of pizza. She decided to leave the pizza and chips for the turtles and skip breakfast.

There weren't very many candles lit in the room since the den's inhabitants weren't in this area, so she lit all the ones she could find with the candle she had brought out from her room.

Once that was done she placed her candle amongst those burning and inspected the room. The furniture was obviously second hand, though well tended. There were large patches on everything, and more than a few cushions were mismatched. The effect was humble, but for some odd reason it made it feel like a home.

There were trinkets placed all about the living room, stuff that reflected the fact that five people lived down here, all of them with different tastes. She found perhaps the most intact, immaculate piece in the entire room hanging on a wall; a calligraphy drawing with flowing Japanese characters from top to bottom was in a glass frame.

Other things were very obviously sentimental - a small collection of smooth rocks in a chipped ceramic pot, a ball of orange yarn, a poster of a wheel of cheese, four old skateboards, a bamboo flute, and a large collection of weapons piled into a corner. She avoided the weapons, not trusting herself around them. It was just her style to accidentally amputate something.

Despite the fact that she knew she had three blankets in her room that Leonardo had plucked from this room, there were still five more, splayed here and there on furniture and on the floor. She picked one off of a sofa to wrap around her shoulders. Being underground meant there wasn't as much heat. It was great for the summer time, but this was late fall, and despite the fact that she had on pants, a long sleeved shirt, and a jean jacket, the cool air bit her cheeks, nose, and fingertips.

"Chassidy!" A voice chirped and she flinched violently, giving an involuntary scream, and whirled around to face Michelangelo.

Michelangelo flinched as well, but more from her expression of abject fear than being startled.

"Woah." His voice was soft and mellow. He slowly moved his hands to show her he had an oil lamp in one hand and nothing in the other. "It's okay, I'm sorry. I just wanted to give you an oil lamp for your room - everyone else has one."

Chassidy forced herself to straighten up and calm down. She closed her eyes, took a deep breath and slowly let it out. "Please don't do that. I'm..." She glared at the wall off to her left. "I don't like being surprised."

"Kay, no problemo. I'll make lots of noise from now on." He grinned, offering her the lamp. She took it and they stood there for a while, him staring at her face, her staring at the oil lamp.

Chassidy pulled the blanket tighter around her shoulders like a shield. "I'm going to go put this in my room." She waggled the lamp slightly and edged around Michelangelo.

"I really am sorry about scaring you." He insisted, following her. She shook her head and placed the oil lamp on her makeshift nightstand.

"Wanna play Monopoly?"

She was starting to get annoyed by him. He was too close, too insistent, too much like a shadow or a puppy.

"I guess."

Michelangelo stared at her back for a while, not missing the hint in her voice that said _go away_. He shrugged it off and went into the living room where Donny was putting together a heater that didn't need electricity. As a result it was gas powered and stinky, but down here the stink wouldn't have been noticed.

"Hey, if you were a girl, what kind of board game would you want to play?" Mikey asked Donny as he looked through their selection of entertainment.

"I dunno. I'd like to think I'd like the same stuff no matter my gender." Donatello answered, distracted.

"That's not helping." His brother complained. "I asked Chassidy if she wanted to play Monopoly and her words said 'yes yes' but her tone said 'no no'."

"Her boyfriend beat her till her face swelled up like a purple balloon, and she's in a stinky, wet place with no windows or natural light. Most likely she didn't sleep well, and some stranger she just met is jumping down her throat so that he's not bored, what do you expect her to feel?"

Michelangelo shoved the board games he'd been sifting through back onto the shelves and turned to Donatello. "I'm not jumping down her throat, I'm trying to distract her so she doesn't sit and mope around like Raph does!"

"Some people need to mope." Donny reasoned. Mikey pouted.

"Stupid people mope."

"I don't know what insulted me more... the moping comment or the stupid comment."

The two brothers jerked upright then looked ashamed.

"Do you want to play Monopoly or not?" She asked, trying to diffuse the awkward tension that filled the room.

"You didn't sound like you wanted to."

"I want to."

"Okay." Mikey went to take out the Monopoly game, but his body language was subdued.

Leonardo came into the room from the dojo, blotting a towel on his head. He inclined his head in greeting, and Chassidy was pleasantly surprised to realize he didn't smell bad though it was obvious that he was sweaty. She was used to Stone coming home smelling like stale body odor after a training session at whatever Foot meeting he had been at. Maybe he didn't stink because he was a turtle.

Maybe he didn't stink because her nose had been killed by the strong scents of smoke and damp fabric.

"Oooh, Monopoly!" His face lit up, "Count me in."


	4. 4

**Disclaimer:** The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles belong to Mirage Studios, Peter A. Laird, and Kevin B. Eastman. I use them without permission, and without monetary profit.

**Chapter Four:**

What started out as a reluctant game of Monopoly turned into an all out war.

It started out as good-natured bickering because Donny was looking to complete his railroad monopoly while Mikey had the last piece of property that Donny was after. Things got ugly from there, and Leo tried to mediate. Most of the time it worked, but when Donny refused to help Leo out with his monopoly the gloves were off and it was each turtle for himself.

Chassidy had bowed out of the game early on; selling her property to anyone whom would take it, and then folding when she ran out of money.

She was glad later on because she had retreated to the sofa and out of range when the fists started to fly.

The wrestling match started when Donny, still sore about the railroad property Mikey was stubbornly sitting on, as banker _accidentally_ forgot to pay Mikey his $200 for passing Go. Mikey got mad and accused Donny of doing it on purpose, and even though he did, he got irate at being accused of it. Leo was snickering and got an elbow jab for it.

Chassidy perched up on the back of the sofa when the three brothers tangled into a mound of straining green limbs, grunts and curses filling the room.

"_Shizukani_!"

Everyone in the room flinched at the barked order, even Chassidy who didn't understand the word.

Splinter walked slowly into the room, his face stern and disapproving. He said something in the same language to the three brothers. They tumbled away from each other, and plodded towards the bedrooms. It took her a moment to realize they had gone to the room they had been in earlier because not long after the kiyas started up again.

Chassidy felt nervous being the only one left in the room, though she hadn't done anything wrong. Splinter sighed.

"Kids."

Chassidy gave a soft smile and nodded. When they acted like that it became very obvious that they weren't that old.

"If you don't mind me asking, Master Splinter, how old are they?"

Splinter creaked his way to the sofa Chassidy was still perched on and she slid down the back to sit beside him. "About sixteen. We were not always the way you see us today. I used to be the pet rat of a Japanese man named Hamato Yoshi. He was a great master and practitioner of the secret art of ninjitsu, and I spent many hours mimicking his movement from my cage where it hung in his dojo..."

Chassidy was still in shock to realize that the turtles that were protecting her from the threat of Stone and/or the Foot were the arch nemeses of the late Master Shredder. She had known that 'freaks of nature' had defeated him because Stone came home yelling about it and kicked her around for a while before he drunk himself into a stupor. She just figured that the group that had taken Shredder down was faster and better than the Foot, who were more enthusiasm than ability. Stone had gone from thug to full fledged Foot member in about a month and by the sound of it, the Foot were ninjitsu, which, like all martial arts, took years to become a black belt.

If everything that Splinter said was true, that the least safe spot for her to hide out from the Foot was in their enemy's territory. What she needed to do was get out of here and go somewhere else. Maybe even home. Not, her parent's home, but where she had lived before her family came to New York City. It couldn't be that far away.

The only downside to that was Stone knew where she used to live, because she had once trusted him and felt she could tell him everything.

So she was stuck here until she could think of a safer place to run to.

Chassidy became aware of the fact that Splinter was staring at her, his expression considering. She leaned backwards slightly, not wanting to be under inspection. She turned her head away, and couldn't help the animal-like rolling of her eyes from Splinter to the far side of the room.

Splinter got up, and she couldn't hide the relaxing of her muscles. She had been expecting him to either demand that she talk about what she was obviously thinking about, or ask her to share her past like he had just shared his.

"What do you wish for breakfast?" Splinter asked, a safe, comfortable distance from Chassidy and the sofa.

"Huh? Oh. I'm not hungry."

Splinter sighed. Stubborn teenagers surrounded him. But he let her be; she would ask for food once her stomach got the better of her. He shuffled to the part of the living room that served as their kitchen and took out a portable gas stove and began the process of making breakfast.

"This Stone that Danny spoke to us of. He is part of the Foot?"

"Yeah. Since the beginning, almost."

"Then he has spoken to you of them?"

Chassidy realized what he was - quite tactfully - asking. He and the others were enemies of the Foot so any little tidbit of information that gave them the upper hand was always wanted. She had no loyalty to the Foot so it was with great relish that she betrayed what she knew to the mutated rat.

"Not very much. Stone kept me in the dark about pretty much everything, but he'd talk about it over the phone with them, and I would listen in. I don't know where their headquarters is, but I know that they're trying to bulk up their numbers again. So far they've recruited about thirty, and still have more prospects. I know that their head quarters aren't in the city limits because he would call to make sure I was home when he on his way and it took him about forty-five minutes after he hung up. Follow Stone, and you'll find their headquarters."

Splinter considered this, his attention drawn inwards though his hands moved purposefully as if he knew the motions to go through without seeing what he was doing. They remained in silence together until the turtles finished their punishment. All of them were sweating, old towels around their necks, wiping away the perspiration.

The scents of rice and some kind of soup wafted underneath her nose and she regretted denying that she was hungry. At the same time pride kept her mouth shut and her expression disinterested.

The boys trooped to the area Splinter was working in, and the clatter of dishes (though very mismatched) and silverware joined the sound of boiling water.

Chassidy watched in silent awe at how the four mutants moved around each other with no little amount of unconscious grace, and depth perception. They seemed to be utterly aware of where the other was so they didn't bump into each other or drop something. Their pseudo kitchen was a mass of writhing limbs and twisting heads, but in the end they each stood in line, two bowls in hand, their gazes glued to whatever it was the Splinter was making.

Splinter stared at Donatello who was first in line. Donny stared at Splinter back in curiosity. One of Splinter's ears flickered towards Chassidy and Donny glanced in her direction.

"Oh! Do you want breakfast?"

Chassidy, overly aware of Splinter and her words earlier, she nodded her head, hating the blush on her face. "Yes please."

"C'mon up." Mikey prodded. "You get to go to the head of the line because you're a guest."

Chassidy swallowed and stood, shuffling into the 'kitchen' and quietly accepted the bowls that Donny placed into her hands. While she turned to Splinter, the bowls proffered, Donny turned and pulled out two more bowls and more utensils.

She watched in interest as Splinter heaped a helping of rice in one bowl and the soup in the other. "Miso soup," he explained. Chassidy nodded and retreated to the table.

It wasn't until Leonardo places a spoon and a fork in front of her that she realized she hadn't picked them up in the kitchen.

Because it was obvious the turtles weren't going to wait until Splinter had been seated to eat, Chassidy followed suit. The soup wasn't bad, though it did taste different; mild and subtle with little blocks of squishy white stuff that didn't really have any taste at all.

The combination of the soup and rice was a pleasantly light but filling breakfast.

Once Splinter had finished his meal he turned to his sons and told them what he had learned from Chassidy.

"I wish you to follow this Stone and find the Foot's newest headquarters. If we stop them now, before their numbers have grown overwhelming, we are in no danger. The snake's body still writhes even after the head has been chopped off."

"What time is it?"

All eyes turned to Chassidy. She shrunk and turned her attention to her mostly empty bowl of rice.

"Well, Stone has a routine. Since he doesn't have a job he goes to see the Foot after he wakes up and doesn't come home until midnight. When he wakes up depends on how much he drank the night before, so I can't tell you when exactly."

They stared at each other, then turned to Splinter while Chassidy played with some rice that had fallen on the table.

"So, we get to do a stakeout?" Michelangelo sounded way too happy about the idea. Splinter nodded and he whooped.

"He is at the Foot headquarters by now," Chassidy warned. They shrugged; it was something to do.

They collected their weapons, got Stone's apartment address and license plate number from Chassidy and bidding her and Splinter farewell they raced off into the sewers, heckling and shouting happily at each other.

Shortly after their voices could no longer be heard, Raphael came out of his room, filled a bowl off the table that one of his brothers had used with miso soup, gulped it down and then shoveled a helping of rice into his mouth with amazing speed. He already had his weapons on a belt around his waist, and with a flicker of his gaze to Splinter, he left in the same direction as his brothers.

Splinter stared at the mouth of the den for a long moment, then shook his head.

He turned to Chassidy. "Come, child. Let us meditate while we await my sons' return."

"This is the place." Donny stated the obvious as the three brothers stared at the apartment complex from a storm drain.

"I think the big sign with 'Sunnyview Apartments' on it might have tipped us off, Don." Mikey said, sarcastic humor in his voice. Donny reached behind Leo to hit the smart-ass.

"Hey!"

"Quit it." Leo leaned back to neither of them could hit each other behind his back and held his hands at the ready in case they tried to hit at each other in front of him.

"Stakeouts look so much more interesting on the television."

"Everything looks more interesting on the television."

"Quit it. We're going to go back to the den if you guys can't get along."

"Yes, Mommy." Donny and Mikey chorused. Leo rolled his eyes.

A noise sounded in the tunnel they'd crawled down to get to the storm drain, and the three of them tensed. The storm drain didn't have much room to maneuver so fighting down here wasn't an option. Leo slid the manhole above them to the side while Mikey passed Donny his nunchucks since he was the only one with small enough weapons to use in the cramped space.

They let out a loud, collective sigh as they spotted Raphael crawling towards them.

"Geeze, Raph, give us a heart attack!"

Leo shifted the manhole back into position and they shifted over so Raphael could join them.

The silence returned, but this time it was curious and aimed at Raph. Don and Mike hadn't seen him since his temper tantrum, and Leo didn't think he would be up to socializing for another week.

"I'm bored." Raphael stated firmly, the anger in his voice daring any of them to challenge him.

They knew it was more than that, but no one was going to suggest otherwise. Not when he was this touchy.

The turtles turned their attention to the apartments.

"This the place?" Raph wondered aloud. Donny shot a hard look at Mikey and Leo glared them both into submission.

A few hours passed and Raphael started fidgeting. Leo stifled a groan. Raph was a monster when it came to sitting still for long periods of time. If it had something to do with looking cool and machismo, he could be a stone statue, but when it came to being bored, he'd shift and wiggle until he popped - at them.

In the hope of holding off the inevitable, Donny handed Raph the nunchucks he was still holding. Raph glanced down at them, confused then irritated but boredom overruled. He snatched them from his brother and started to whip them around.

This, of course, annoyed Mikey because Raph's form wasn't in the least bit right. Mikey started to correct Raph's movements, here and there. Raph reached over and let a nunchuck pop Mikey on the arm.

"Hey!"

"Quit being a nag."

"Quit doing it wrong."

"Guys!"

"Yes, Mommy?" Raph jeered, still twirling the nunchucks, an evil gleam in his eye asking Leo to give him a reason to pop him one too.

"We're going to be here for a while. Can you _please_ try to behave?"

"He started it." Raphael sent Leo a shit-eating grin, and Leo had to close his eyes to keep from leaping past Donny and ripping Raph's eyes out.

"Be mature and don't respond, then." None of them were really sure if Leo said this to Raph or to himself. Probably both.

Silence descended once more save for the whistle of the nunchucks rotating.

It was going to be a long night.


	5. 5

**Disclaimer:** The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles belong to Mirage Studios, Peter A. Laird, and Kevin B. Eastman. I use them without permission, and without monetary profit.

**Author's Note:** You too can play the Ninja gesture game! The rules are exactly the same as Rock, Paper, Scissors, only instead there is Ninja Stars (splay hand like you display the number five), Ninja Knife (all fingers touching each other, like a Karate Chop), and Ninja Darts (point one finger, the rest curled down into a fist). Tada!

**Chapter Five:**

Chassidy woke up to see the amused coal black eyes of a giant rat. It took her a while to remember him and everything else; Stone, running away, Danny, the sewers, mutated turtles... and Master Splinter. It took her only a moment after that to realize he was amused because she had fallen asleep while meditating.

"Do not fear. My sons frequently nap when they should be meditating. I am guilty of doing so as well in my younger days."

The girl nodded not knowing what else to do. "I didn't sleep well last night so I'm a little tired."

Splinter made a noise of understanding and eased his eyes shut, returning to his meditation.

They were in the dojo, both sitting on the thick padded blue mats that were piled in the corner. Splinter explained that they were used for practicing throwing techniques and Splinter because it was easier on his old bones. She was given a squishy mat because he was unused to roughing it. She was thankful. She hadn't been too thrilled with the thought of sitting on the cold concrete floor, the cement seeping away her precious warmth.

She stared at him a while, then with nothing else to do, closed her eyes and counted her breaths, regulating them so that they were the same. Then the numbers ceased and all that was left was the same breath in and out. Eventually her mind was a blank, a clean slate with nothing to think and nothing to see in her mind's eye.

Chassidy drifted off to sleep again, her head jerking up once she came awake enough to realize it was starting to droop towards her lap.

"Go sleep, child." Splinter's voice was heavily amused and paternal. Like a grandfather humoring a favored grandchild.

She didn't have to be told twice. Chassidy gave him a small bow and backed out of the dojo and bowed again, the way Master Splinter had advised her when she entered the dojo.

She picked up her shoes from the edge of the dojo and retreated to her room gladly.

"Ninja Dart beats Ninja Knife."

"1, 2, 3."

"Ninja Star beats Ninja Dart."

"1, 2, 3."

"Ninja Knife beats Ninja Star."

"1, 2, 3."

"Ninja Kni-"

"Would you knock it off? You've been playing that for three hours now!" Raphael hissed so that no passerby would wonder why the sewer drain was yelling.

"You're just jealous because we're not bored." Mike grinned at his brother and dodged the clumsy grab Raph made at him.

Leo didn't bother opening his eyes as Raph's lunge jostled Don against him. Nothing that he did or say was going to stop them, he was just going to waste breath if he tried.

However, Mikey was aware that if he irritated his brother while he was in this mood Raph was going to do more than just half-heartedly lunge at him. There was going to be a fight, and they were supposed to be monitoring the apartment at the moment. Don and Mike played their gesture game in silence instead.

After an hour, they tired of it and instead decided to tell horror stories. Raphael was okay with this mainly because he was the King of Horror. The stories he told were so gruesome and bloodthirsty that Mikey was usually left cowering in the corner, and Donny wincing sympathetically for the victims. Raphael knew human anatomy just as well as Donatello, and so Donny could think of nothing scientifically unsound in his horror stories.

Besides, they were just fiction. He could enjoy a good story.

Leonardo decided that since it was getting closer to daylight hours, and if they didn't move to a location closer to the apartment, they were going to be stuck in the sewers unless they wanted to be seen by anyone out for a morning jog or driving to work.

Silently with the sky lightening almost imperceptibly the turtles snuck from their hiding spot, swiftly climbed the fire escape on the side of the apartment building and perched on the four corners of the building, watching for activity below, and especially watching out for men who fit Stone's appearance.

They located Stone's truck in the parking lot from the license plate Chassidy had given them, and Raphael volunteered to hide out in the bed of the truck underneath the blue tarp for insurance. There was a small argument over this because Leonardo didn't like the idea of putting one of them in danger, but Raph was determined, and in the end Leo relented mainly because he had to.

Raph did what he wanted to and you either went with it or wore yourself out fighting against it.

It grated on Leo's nerves because his goal was to return all four of them home and in one piece, yet Raph's constant death wish got in his way. He fought to keep his temperamental brother alive more than he fought to win against their opponents.

With Raph grinning to himself because he got his way and hiding in the bed of Stone's truck, their surveillance was both more relaxed and focused. Now all they had to wait for was a guy to come and take the truck away, but they were also hyper aware of Raph. As the sun rose, the more danger he was in. If Stone thought something was out of the ordinary in the bed, he would investigate and find a huge mutant turtle with a mask and weapons wiggling his fingers hello.

Since Stone knew they existed, being a part of the Foot, he wouldn't stand in shock, he'd most likely attack. They had a very slim element of surprise. But the point wasn't confrontation. The point was reconnaissance. Leo was tying himself in knots, thinking of all the possible scenarios where they ended up fighting to get Raph free from his stupid hiding spot and retreating. If this went wrong all they'd get out of this was a work out and first-hand knowledge of Stone and his truck. But that was by no means what they came for.

Leo was ready to go down and tow Raph back up the building by his toes when a man who fit Stone's appearance made his way out of the building and to the parking lot. Without a single glance at the bed of the truck, eager to get someplace by the way he strode and the way he held his head and gaze, the man climbed into the truck and took off.

With three shadows following in his wake jumping from rooftop to rooftop.

Chassidy woke refreshed though her face throbbed horribly. She knew from the tender, whisper-like inspection she made with her fingers that her black eye had continued to swell, and now sight from that eye was impossible. She really wanted to stay in her room until she started to look like herself again. At the same time she couldn't just cower in the room, because it wasn't her room, it wasn't even her apartment.

She wasn't going to get to go to work any time soon regardless of where she was living because they didn't like people showing up with bruises that were larger than a quarter. Those were easily explained away. Anything larger looked suspiciously like domestic bruises, no matter if they were or not. Unfortunately she couldn't explain away a black eye, broken nose, and split lip any other way but a fight. But she wasn't known for her volatile temper or getting into fights, so conclusions were going to be drawn; right ones.

She would have to call in sick again. If she went into work looking the way she did, they would try to help her and right now all she wanted to do was lick her wounds.

Chassidy knew that if the sewer den didn't have electricity, most likely it didn't have a telephone either. Though it was obvious they had water. She had spied a very crude but interesting looking water purifier in the kitchen area that Splinter had used when cooking their meal. It wasn't like any purifier she'd seen before, but it had worked and she supposed that's what mattered most.

She also wanted an ice pack for her face. The bruises were radiating warmth, and it wasn't helping her comfort level. She also wanted some more of the pills Donny had handed her, but had no clue where they would be stored.

Chassidy realized as she went in search of ice cubes that she wasn't going to find any, or cold water. Though at the moment room temperature would be colder than her face, so she found a fairly clean rag, used some of the water from the huge, bizarre purifier to clean it in a bowl and then wet it down with more water.

She was lying on the couch with the rag over her eye and a small bowl of water on the floor nearby when Splinter found her.

"I trust you slept well?" Chassidy sat up straight quickly, having not heard the rat enter the room. She placed the rag in the water again.

"Yes, thank you."

Splinter nodded and headed to the kitchen area. He made preparations to cook something and she wanted her watch again. She could even picture exactly where it was - on the nightstand beside the bed. But she'd run out of the apartment with absolutely nothing but the clothes on her back. Stupid, she knew now, but at the time she wasn't thinking of the long-term effects.

"Master Splinter? I don't want to disturb you, but Donatello gave me Tyloenol and Vitamin D to help with my bruises. But I don't know where they would be."

The old rat looked up at her then scrolled through his memory. "I do not know where Donatello stores his pills. I prefer more natural methods."

"Natural methods?"

"Yes. Since coming to America I have found replacements for the herbs that do not grow here as they grow in Japan. Come with me. I have a modest collection of herbs in my room."

Chassidy eased up from the sofa and padded after the rat as he made his way towards the bedrooms.

Splinter's room was much different from what Chassidy had been expecting. Though it had the same concrete walls and floor, the room was very obvious influenced by another culture. There were tatami mats, though very worn, pieced together on the floor and a cot snuggled into a corner with a nest of blankets piled on it. A small square table sat in the middle of the room with a skirt around it that was patched together with a myriad of loud and fruity fabrics and two thin pillow-like squares, one lime green, the other a white and purple floral print.

On the walls were more of the Japanese prints and script paintings like the one in the living room. The pictures were of Japanese mountains and lighthearted one of a curious monkey hanging from drooping branch, reaching down the touch the steaming water of an _onsen_.

"With the help of my son, Donatello, we have found that your comfrey works very well on bruises as a poultice."

Splinter knelt on the bright green pillow square at the table and reached underneath it to retrieve a large lacquered box. The lacquer was faded and flaking off in places, but the painting was still visible on the whole - a scene of a war, a procession of armored men on horses marching towards a collection of farmers wielding their tools of the trade menacingly. The scene wrapped around the box so it appeared as if the samurai were pursuing the farmers who were behind them.

Getting up, Splinter hobbled into the kitchen with the box. He opened the lacquered box and pulled out a blue bottle that held the comfrey leaves. Chassidy watched in fascination as the mutant boiled some water on one of the camper stoves they had and poured the water into a cup that he'd placed the leaves in.

Splinter continued to prepare a small pot for soup, which, this time was much more American; straight out of a can. Splinter dumped 2 cans of chicken noodle soup into the pot, which he explained was from a nearby homeless shelter that knew that someone lived in the sewers and left offerings at the base of a ladder at the nearby manhole.

He explained to Chassidy that they had a handful of human friends that frequently helped them out since they could hardly live the life of a human. He told her of April O'Neal and Casey Jones who were very kind to chip in for a pizza now and then and pay the turtles for chores and fixes around the house. Donatello was very good at fixing things, and while not as talented as his brother, Leonardo was competent as well. Michelangelo lacked the motivation and Raphael lacked the patience. Instead they usually scoured through the newspapers for rewards for returns of lost items, but mainly bounty hunting of a sorts.

Though it made the police wary to not know the face of the civilian that handed over more than a few wanted criminals and bail skippers, at the same time they welcomed the help. All four brothers helped in this and they did the bounty work under the name of Mitch-Rafe LeDon.

Splinter winced as he said the name. Chassidy laughed.

All together the money wasn't much, but it was enough for them to survive, which was more than when Splinter was raising them.

He asked Chassidy to retrieve the rag she'd been using as a cold compress and told he that cold wouldn't help her anymore - that warm was best to encourage blood flow and flush out the blood that was sitting under the surface of her skin. Soaking that in the water until it was warm, he folded the rag until it was a square and placed the leaves on it. He handed her the poultice and continued to monitor the soup.

"Master Splinter, could you tell me where the nearest phone booth is? I need to call in sick to work."

"If you will wait until after our dinner I can lead you to the manhole near a phone book. There is a jar of change that is somewhere in the living room that we use for such occasions."

Since Chassidy hadn't thought of needing change, she was grateful for it because she had no money with her either. She would have to go to the apartment during the day when Stone was gone to pick up some of her stuff though it should be Stone who moved out, not her. She had paid for everything for the past four months, but even if she tried she wouldn't be able to kick Stone out - the lease was in his name since she was only 17 to his 24.

Maybe she could ask one of her new friends to come along in case Stone asked his Foot buddies to watch the apartment. She wasn't sure that he'd think to do that yet, but he would eventually and she felt safer having someone along with her, especially a known enemy of the Clan.

They ate their meal in companionable silence and then Splinter escorted Chassidy to the payphone for her to make her excuses and hope they didn't decide to fire her after how many weeks of work she'd had to miss this past year due to Stone's free fists.


	6. 6

**Disclaimer:** The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles belong to Mirage Studios, Peter A. Laird, and Kevin B. Eastman. I use them without permission, and without monetary profit.

**Chapter Six:**

The ride to the Foot headquarters was bumpy and rough. Even though Raphael's skin was tougher than any human's he still could bruise and the bed of the truck wasn't in the least bit comfortable. Empty bottles of alcohol rolled around in the back, making so much noise during the turns Raph didn't bother using his energy to keep quiet. Instead he concentrated on slightly rolling about the bed like he was just another object rolling around from the velocity instead of a huge, heavy object like he really was.

If he had kept absolutely still the silence would have given him away.

By the time that Stone stopped and go out of the car Raphael had gotten lost in the monotony of moving his body with the truck that he'd forgotten to memorize the way they had come so he could backtrack. If his brothers hadn't kept up with Stone's truck, he was lost.

He waited until the noise around the truck was gone for five minutes, and peeked from his cover. Even though the truck was parked in a parking lot alongside a handful of other vehicles, the parking lot was made of loose gravel and plants were at the edges of the square lot. The entire area around the parking lot was overgrown with trees and vegetation, so he knew he was no longer in the city. And the place he was at had been abandoned by their previous owner.

Or if the property legally belonged to the Foot - which he doubted - they certainly weren't concerned with taking care of the gardening.

Slowly shifting, he peered out of the other side of the bed of the truck, sure to keep the tarp in place, and saw a jail-like building, cream colored, square, solid, and with a large chain-link fence with circles of barbed wire at the top. There were three flagpoles in front of the building, but with no flags or rope.

Built-in high security, then.

He could find a way out, but he'd have to wait until nightfall to do it. Until then he needed to find a place to hide that wasn't Stone's truck. He hadn't even glanced at Raphael's hiding spot on the way here, because he had a goal, a place to be. On his way home, he'd be more relaxed and aware of his surroundings. Raph didn't want to take any more chances than he'd already taken.

Studying the area, he was disappointed to see that there really wasn't any place for him to take cover until nightfall. The gravel parking lot trailed into a pathway that led to the building, and though the grass was full of weeds and tall grass, he wasn't sure that would provide enough of a hiding place.

There were no sewers so that was out of the question. In order for him to safely escape and not get caught, he'd have to do it now. Once he got into the cover of the trees beyond the fence, he could hide out until his brothers caught up, or he got his bearings straight and guessed his way home. It might take him a while, but it was better than waiting around for his brothers to rescue him.

Raphael slid out from under the blue tarp and over the edge of the bed of the truck, sure to keep the vehicle between him and the building. He eased himself to the front of the truck, making sure that his movements wouldn't make the gravel crunch, and then sprinted to the building as fast as he could go so that his feet hit the ground as little as possible.

Panting and hidden by the side of the building - unless someone meandered this way - he waited for a while to see if anyone had spotted him in his mad dash. After a few moments of waiting he quietly approached the nearby fence and sliced the metal links with his sai in a long, straight line. That done, he bent the fence outward so he could squeeze through without getting stuck by the cut edges.

Once he freed himself from the fence he bolted for the trees.

Raph knew his brothers were there before he saw or heard them. Their presence soothed his frayed nerves, and he relaxed though he was still tense. Daylight hours made him jumpy because he was used to the comfort of concealing shadows. In daylight he couldn't hide as easily. It was one of the things Jackie couldn't understand about him. She was afraid of the dark. He _was_ the dark.

He kept himself apart from the cluster of his brothers, but he could hear and see them just fine. They were so close their shoulders and knees were bumping, Donny and Leo's shells making a small, dull clacking sound as they touched. Raph didn't feel like being touched right now. He felt more comfortable without the constant contact. Most of the time he was fine with it, but right now even the thought of being touched made him want to stand up and walk farther away.

"What is this place?" Mikey asked Raph as he crawled towards their group, but stayed far enough away so he wasn't in touching distance.

"Your guess is as good as mine."

"Whatever it is, it was abandoned and heavily fortified. There used to be letters on the building, but they're gone now, because there's discoloration on the bricks."

Leonardo squinted at the spot Donny was talking about. "Looks like... NAMR."

"I'll do some research at April's after we get some sleep. We know where this place is, and have a lead. I say we go back to the sewers and tell Splinter about what we've found."

His brothers agreed and they made their way back to the city.

Chassidy's bruises didn't look better, but they did feel better. There wasn't quite as much pain and so long as she was sitting up, the blood didn't rush to her face and set it throbbing. She didn't want to overdo it with the comfrey so she decided to wait for Donatello to return for the Tylenol and vitamin D and only use the herb when her black eye hurt.

Her other bruises were almost nothing compared to her face. She could, for the most part, ignore them because of it. If she bumped her arms or torso then they let her know they were still there, especially the big one on her right hip, but they weren't swollen like her face.

"Master Splinter?" She nearly whispered, hoping she wasn't disturbing him. She had found him in the dojo doing katas. When it looked like he was finished she spoke.

Splinter had known she was there, and had been curious when she was going to speak to him. She was very shy, that he could tell, and didn't want to be any more of a burden than she already was. She asked for very little, which was a very rare thing in this self-centric society. She was sweet, and an injured soul. It was more than her face that needed healing. He hoped that he and his sons could help he while she bid her time with them.

"Yes, Chassidy-chan?"

Curious and thrown by the odd ending he put on her name, she paused. "Um." Splinter watched her, ever patient. "Uh, what are you practicing? I don't know very much about martial arts except it's pretty."

Splinter smiled with his eyes. "Yes, martial arts are pretty. Come, join me, if you are truly curious; it is a long story."

Since the brothers weren't chasing after a target this time around, it took them much longer to get to their home in the sewers than it took them to trail Stone and his truck. Their steps were less urgent, their gazes less focused. Now they were intent on remaining undetected in the warm shine of the sun. The breeze was cool, though the sewers were colder this time of the year.

Though they were very cautious and kept as hidden as possible, they enjoyed the temperature and the light. Sometimes the sewers got a little too dark and damp, which was why they sought the streets so often - Raphael more than the others. Donatello was perhaps the only one who minded their home's dank and dreary feel the least, mostly because he lived more inside of his head than aware of his surroundings. He was very perceptive, but only when he paid attention.

They were silent as they entered the dojo where Splinter was explaining the finer points of ninjitsu to Chassidy. He had grown silent the moment he sensed their prescence in the sewers, which had confused the human girl, but she didn't ask. She simply sat and watched Master Splinter for answers if he chose to answer her.

The four of them bowed before the mutant rat, Leo closest.

"Master Splinter we have found their hideout. It is not in the city, but in a small suburb several hours away. It looks like it is an abandoned government building with natural security. On the side of the building read 'NAMR.'"

Silence descended as they waited for Splinter's response. When it appeared that none would come, Leo prodded. "What do you wish us to do, Master?"

"I wish you to do nothing at this moment. I must meditate on this matter. The Shredder is gone and the Foot is weaker, but they are still and adversary and we know from past clashes. We must stop them before they become stronger, but it appears they are stronger that I had assumed. We must proceed with caution and wisdom. I shall seek that wisdom."

Splinter quit the room, his adopted sons' heads still bowed with respect.

Chassidy watched in curiosity as, after a minute passed, they relaxed and turned to each other. Raphael quietly left the room and the other three said nothing, only shooting concerned glances in his direction. He wasn't acting like his normal self, but at the same time his joining them for their mission had given them hopes. Now that they were home again the weight of whatever had made him throw his temper tantrum returned, stooping his shoulders.

Donatello faced his remaining brothers. "While we're waiting for Splinter's wisdom, I need to do some research about what we've learned. Is anyone interesting in coming with me to visit April?"

"Ooh! Ooh! Pick me! Pick me!" Mikey hopped up and down, waving a hand in the air.

"Count me in." Leo agreed. "It's been about a week so I'm sure she's got her freezer restocked."

The turned to Chassidy and she straightened, her uninjured eye wide. "Me? Uh, I don't know. I'm not exactly presentable at the moment. "

"So?" Mikey stalked closer to Chassidy and reached out for her hand. She couldn't keep the look of fear off of her face, though she tried, when Mikey reached down and clasped her wrist. His grip was loose and she could easily have pulled her hand away, but her hand lay limp in his grip. Leo stepped in and put his hand firmly on his brother's shoulder and pulling. Mikey dropped her hand and she let it drop to her side like a dead thing.

"Leave the lady alone, Mikey. If she doesn't want to come, she doesn't have to come."

Mikey pouted out his lower lip at his brother, then shot Chassidy a puppy dog expression that had her eyebrows scrunching up with sympathy. Automatically she opened her mouth to agree, but caught herself. Her mouth snapped shut, he teeth clicking together. "People are going to stare. And ask. And I don't feel like spilling my woes to everyone who stops me."

"We've got disguises. Raph's got more clothes in his closet than a human! We can't exactly go up on the surface like we are because people will stare too. And April's nice. She won't ask any questions, and if she does, _we'll_ tell her. You don't have to say anything at all. We'll tell her that you're mute!"

Chassidy stared at the orange-masked turtle for a long time. He was at least two inches shorter than she was, but for some reason he was overwhelming. He was watching her with anticipation, looking like he already knew she was going to bend to his will. She heaved a big sigh and glanced at the other two turtles that were watching her as well, though they looked more apologetic, like the owners of a large puppy who just put his big drooling head in her lap.

"Do I have any choice?" She asked, knowing she'd given into him. She wasn't much for fights. Usually it would get her a hand upside the head if she went against Stone's word. Sometimes he wouldn't even tell her that she'd done something wrong, just slap her. Eventually all of the fight went out of her. She used to have huge arguments with her parents where she'd slam doors and scream at the top of her lungs until she got her way. Now she could hardly tell anyone 'no'.

"Of course you do!" He chirped and picked her wrist up again. She allowed him to pull her along as he walked to his room. "April's place is so cool. She's got snacks and television, and a computer, and an awesome sound system, and she lets me keep my Playstation 2 there. It's the only thing I've bought for myself." His eyes looked watery as he confided melodramatically, "It's my baby."

Chassidy couldn't help but laugh weakly at him. He was like a bulldozer: a happy, playful bulldozer.

Michelangelo's room was a mess. And full so many toys she was tiptoeing so she didn't step on anything that might break. Mikey didn't care. His feet automatically hit the floor in the bare spots. There was a mattress in the corner on the floor like in her room, and a large dresser against the opposite wall. Everything else was toys piled in mounds almost reaching her waist. On the walls were posters of bikini-clad models and a couple martial arts posters of Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan.

In the dresser, amid more toys was a small collection of clothes. He gave her a sheepish smile. "Raph's Mr. Incognito. I'm more like Mr. Oversized Duster And Fedora." He planted said fedora on his head and slipped the wrinkled black duster on. "I'm sure I've got some better stuff in here. If not, we can raid the other's rooms."

"It's okay, I don't have to go." Chassidy couldn't help that last bid for freedom.

"It's no biggie. They won't mind it. At least, not if we're Ninja about it." Mikey flashed her an evil grin. "I still have to get Leo back for that time he threw Mr. Potato Head in the stinkiest, sludgiest sewer main he could find."

Mikey held up a pair of extra large orange and black sweat pants against Chassidy's hips. "Uuuuhhh...."

"It's okay. I just need something to hide my face."

"Oooh!" Mikey stuck his hand into a pile near the bed and pulled out a hockey mask. "Like this?"

Chassidy stared. "How about a jacket with a hood and a baseball cap?"

"That would be in Raph's room." Mikey tapped a finger to his chin. "Now, how to get it..."

"Asking?"

"Nah, too easy." Mikey rubbed his hands together. "I've got an idea."

Donatello spotted them as they returned to the living room. "Hey, we need to get going, is Chassidy coming?"

"I need something to h--!" Mikey clapped a hand over her mouth and whispered in her ear. "Ixnay on the ellingtay. We're uppoedsay to be injanay about it!"

Donny rolled his eyes and offered his trench coat and hat to her. "I've got a spare in my room."

Michelanglo didn't notice when Chassidy's body went stiff and still, her breathing becoming faster from her fear of the situation, of him. Donatello didn't notice, having already left the room. Mikey took his hand away, his attention on his brother.

"Spoil sport!"

"You bet I am. Any plot you've hatched would take too much time."

Mikey shoved his hands into the pockets of his duster and grumbled to himself while Chassidy, shaking, put on her borrowed disguise.


	7. 7

**Disclaimer:** The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles belong to Mirage Studios, Peter A. Laird, and Kevin B. Eastman. I use them without permission, and without monetary profit.

**Chapter Seven:**

A thought occurred to Chassidy as they slogged through ankle-deep sewer water on their way to Apri's apartment.

"Have you guys slept yet?"

"Nope."

"Aren't you tired?"

"Yep."

"Then... why are we going to April's and not sleeping?"

"I can't go to sleep until I find out what that NAMR building used to be." Donny explained.

Leo nodded and fell back so he could walk beside Chassidy who was lagging behind them, unsure of where they were going. "April is our friend, and it'll just insult her if Donny comes over by himself to use her Internet and leave. If we all go then we're visiting."

Chassidy nodded and scrunched up her face when she stepped into a particularly large puddle of sewer water.

"You can hop on my back if you want." Mikey offered. Chassidy was very tempted. She had lifted the borrowed trench coat so it wasn't splashed by the water, but her shoes and her jeans up to mid-shin were soaked. It was going to take about five or six washes and a bottle of Odor Eaters powder to get the smell out.

Before she could decline, Michelangelo had stopped and knelt in the water. Now she couldn't tell him no.

It was awkward because neither of them knew how exactly this was supposed to work. Mikey had carried his brothers around piggy backed, but their anatomy was obviously different. Chassidy was uncomfortable with straddling his back. There was so much shell, she wasn't sure she could get her legs around him. And it was definitely going to press certain parts of her body to a part of his, it didn't matter that it was something as non-sexual as his shell. But he was a turtle - who knew what was or wasn't sexual to him.

After a bit of mutual shuffling and hemming and hawing Mikey gave a chuckle and swept her up into his arms. She gave a shriek of fright and her body went stiff.

Suddenly holding an armful of unbending girl was a shock to Mike, and he almost dropped her. After struggling a moment, standing in a squat so he was more balanced he blinked down at her. "This would be a lot easier if you relaxed. A little. A lot. Completely."

Chassidy's eyes rolled to stare wide-eyed at Mikey, expecting him to drop her any moment now. She was too heavy to carry like this!

"Don't you trust me?" His voice was quiet and mildly curious.

Chassidy shook her head. "Please put me down. I'm too heavy for you to carry."

"No you're not."

Chassidy stared at him, completely unsure what to do with him, overwhelmed by him, by everything. She busted into to tears.

Now equally scared, Mikey put her back onto her feet and hovered around her, waving his hands at her, trying to sooth her tears away, but clueless as to how to do it.

"Oh, god, I'm sorry! I didn't mean to make you cry! I won't pick you up ever again. I won't even touch you, just please tell me why you're crying, I'm sorry. Did I hurt you? Doonnnyyyyy."

Donatello took three steps backward. "I know just as much about crying females as you do!"

Leonardo stepped forward and nudged Mikey backwards. Mikey gladly retreated to where Donny was standing.

"Shhh, it's okay." Leo crooned softly at Chassidy while she shuddered and sobbed, her face buried in her hands, shoulders hunched and knees bent, her entire body trembling. "It's okay, no one's going to pick you up anymore, Chassidy, it's okay." Lightly he touched her shoulder, then stepped closer. When she didn't turn or jerk away he wrapped his arms around her shoulders and guided her head to his shoulder. Her knees buckled and he switched his grip to her back, pressing her hard against his plastron so he could remain standing and she wasn't on the floor. She pulled her hands from where they were wedged between her face and his shoulder and clutched hard at his carapace.

"I'm sorry." She mumbled into the softer skin of his neck and shoulder. "I'm such an idiot. I don't know why I'm crying. It is just all too much, too sudden."

"It's okay." He murmured, running his free hand down her hair in a petting gesture. Slowly she settled down.

"Mikey's a bit much for anyone, really." Leo smiled and patted the top of her head fraternally. She gave a watery chuckle.

"Yeah." She agreed. "You guys scare me. Not, grr, scare me, but... I'm not used to people like you." She pulled away from him and he tucked her hair behind her ears and wiped away the moisture on her cheeks. "I don't know how to respond, what to expect. I've gotten a little rusty on my people skills."

Leo smiled. "We're not that hard. Treat us with respect and we'll respect you back."

She nodded slowly, keeping her bloodshot eyes averted from his face. She was too embarrassed by her outburst to look him in the eye. Gently patting her shoulder he let his hand continue to brush her as he passed her, the gesture meant to reassure her, a lingering sign of comfort. She had known that her new friends were a tactile bunch, they seemed touch each other in some way most of the time. Except for Raphael, but he was much different than the others. He was more of a lone wolf.

These brothers were the pack, constantly tumbling, nosing, and nipping at each other. Only... they were a little more human about it.

Mikey and Don followed Leo, skirting Chassidy like she was a ticking time bomb, though Mikey threw her an anxious, concerned glance.

She took a deep breath, hiked up the trench coat again and continued to slog through the sewers.

April's apartment was actually quite posh.

She had expected something a little less luxurious since she didn't think someone who could afford an expensive apartment would be a friend to - essentially - homeless accidental science experiments.

Learning that April O'Neal worked for a TV station as a top TV news reporter - she didn't watch a lot of TV and when Stone did, it wasn't the news - was doubly surprising because it was the media that the turtles were afraid would find out they existed.

Though it was a strategic friend for them to have because then she would keep the media off of their tails.

April was very nice. She was almost as intense and friendly as Michelangelo, and Chassidy could see why she got along with them. April was also just as tactile as the turtles were. She was one of their pack, a full member who touched, punched, smacked, and kissed whichever brother was closest. It was obvious that they loved each other, and they trusted one another, but it was never sexual. April was more of a human big sister.

Mikey, around April, paid less attention to Chassidy, instead trying to coax a loud laugh from April who was very free with her laughs. Nearly everything Mikey did made her laugh and he was nearly tripping over himself to make her laugh again. Donatello regularly came out of the room with the computer to join in the chatter and get affection from April. Chassidy began to envy the ease they had with each other.

Leonardo was very cool, Chassidy decided. She knew he knew why she had sat so far away from the others and so he placed himself in that gap between, acting as that bridge so that her self-exile wasn't so complete. For some reason he knew she was retreating because she felt out of place, not because she didn't want to be a part of the group. He kept her included in the conversation - though the others did so as well - and kept glancing at her cup and plate to make sure she had enough to drink or eat.

Mike was the first one to fall asleep. It was very noticible because he seemed to be the loudest of the bunch, and suddenly he wasn't talking quite as much, the jokes and impressions stopped, and he'd found a place to curl up on. Within moments he was sleeping at the mood of their visit dropped dramatically.

The conversation turned more relaxed mainly chitchat. April caught up with her turtle friends, demanding that they tell her everything that had happened since they last saw her. She knew her friends well and they were nine times out of ten, neck deep in adventure whether they wanted it or not. April was convinced this was because of their desire to _not_ be seen, _not_ be acknowledged, and their need to keep their existence a secret. Life had a tendency to give someone the exact opposite of what they wanted.

Chassidy, soon was left in the living room with only April awake. If she calculated it, she had had as much sleep as the others had, though hers was split up with a few hours in between. The nature of the silence that filled the room was dragging her eyelids down, and April grinned, giving Chassidy a friendly pat on the cheek.

"Catch some Zs, Chass, I've got some homework I need to tend to."

"Homework?"

"Hey, just because I work, doesn't mean I don't have 'homework'. You'd be surprised how much of my work I end up taking home with me."

Chassidy nodded and leaned back in the recliner she'd claimed. A soft snore was coming from Mikey and it made Chassidy smile. It was an oddly cute snore compared to the loud buzz-saw noises Stone made.

She closed her eyes and quickly sleep crept over her.

Mikey was still out like a light when Chassidy woke up. Leo and Donny were already awake and quietly chatting, again, with April. Their conversation was serious, though, because April had a small frown in between her eyebrows.

"...never heard of it before."

"It's pretty old. They shut down about seventeen years ago, and it was all very hush hush. The place was a research center - National Association of Military Research. Mainly it was a place where a bunch of smart people hired by the government met to think up and develop weapon ideas for the military. They lost funding, though, and while they managed to stay afloat on donations from a handful of wealthy people, those people quit helping too."

"Do you think they left anything behind? Weapons the public's never been informed of before stuff like that? Or did the Foot just stumble on it? Is there a reason why they chose that place other than convenience?"

Donatello shrugged. "You'd have to ask the Foot for those answers."

Leo sighed and glanced at the sleeping figures in the living room a few feet away from where they sat at a thick wooden table. "Do you want to wake them up, or should we leave them be? I don't know how long it's going to take Master Splinter to meditate on our course of action, but it's night, and it's best that we get to the sewers as soon as possible.

"I'm awake." Chassidy whispered.

"Same here." Mikey groaned, his voice muffled by the nest of blankets he had created in his sleep.

"April needs her sleep and soon it'll be morning. We need to leave."

_My sleep schedule is so messed up_, Chassidy thought to herself and she stood beside the recliner, working out the kinks and strains she had gotten from napping deeply on the recliner.

Though his eyes were half closed and his movements were sluggish, Mikey collected his blankets, folded them and placed them on the back of the sofa. Chassidy didn't remember him falling asleep with them, so most likely April placed them on him while she was sleeping.

As he continued to walk, the blood started to flow and wake Michelangelo fully. His body language changed the more awake he became and soon the loud, playful Mikey was back, chattering away.

Chassidy couldn't help but like Sleepy!Mike more than Awake!Mike. She could handle him much better when he wasn't trying to get her to interact with him. His vibrancy drew her eyes, but she felt most comfortable watching him than joining him in the fun he always seemed to have.

The four of them dispersed after they walked into the living room of their underground den and it was a bit of a relief for Chassidy to duck into the room that she had been given. Desperate for comfort and regularity, even the humble, borrowed room felt a little like home to her. She shook her head. This wasn't supposed to be home. She was currently homeless. She wasn't going to stay with the turtles for very long even if they begged her to stay, which she knew they wouldn't.

Still tired, she slipped her shoes off, took of her dirty socks and pants and curled under the blankets.

Four mutants were sitting cross-legged on the floor of the dojo.

"I have made my decision." Splinter began. "We shall monitor the Foot in their new headquarters. Only once we know our enemy shall we strike. You will rest this night. After tomorrow night Leonardo and Donatello will share monitoring NAMR. Michelangelo and Raphael will share protecting our guest. Remember that ninjas are silent and invisible. Do not allow yourself to be found."

"Master Splinter, I have found out the history of the building." Donatello bowed his head respectfully. Splinter nodded his approval as Donny relayed everything he had learned to the old rat.

"You have done well, my son."

"Thank you, Master Splinter."

"You may leave. Return to me tomorrow night for training."

The three turtles retreated to their rooms for some more serious napping.


	8. 8

**Disclaimer:** The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles belong to Mirage Studios, Peter A. Laird, and Kevin B. Eastman. I use them without permission, and without monetary profit.

**Chapter Eight:**

"Well, it looks like it's just you and me for the next couple of days."

Chassidy glanced up from her game of solitaire. "Huh?"

"Leo and Don are off playing Peekaboo with the Foot, Raph's not in his room, and Splinter's in meditation Lala Land so it's just you and me."

This news didn't seem to make her happy. In fact, her face was starting to adopt the look of a cornered rabbit.

"Okay, so then you be you out here and I'll be me somewhere else." Mikey shuffled backwards, retreating into his room.

Just as Chassidy was starting to become comfortable again Mikey came storming back into the living room pointing a thick finger at the girl who was trying to shrink into the sofa.

"What have I done to you to make you think I'm going to eat you? I know I'm not a human, but I'm not a slobbering monster either. I'm not mean like Raphael, I'm less serious than Leonardo, and I'm not as smart as Donatello. I haven't yelled at you, I haven't raised a hand to you, I've never said anything negative in your presence so what in the world is so intimidating?"

"I don't know." Chassidy admitted. "You just... are."

"That's not helping."

"I'm sorry! I don't know! You're loud; you're vibrant and constantly moving. I don't know what to think of you and I don't know how to handle you."

"What's there to handle?" Mikey asked as he shuffled closer slowly. Chassidy made room for him on the sofa and he ignored the fact that there was plenty of room on the sofa already. "Why not just tell me to shut up or go away like my brothers do? It makes me feel bad when you flinch and cower away from me. You smile at Donny and Leo and even let Leo hug you and Donny touch your bruises."

"They're quiet, move slow, and always keep a nice distance away from me."

"Will you like me better if I do to?"

Chassidy blinked. "I don't know. Maybe."

"Great," Mikey smiled at her, a big grin that showed white teeth. "That's better than nothing." He then scooted over to the opposite end of the couch and stared at the wall.

Chassidy watched him for a while, every now and again placing another card onto the coffee table where her card game lay. He had started to fidget and pick at the ends of his nunchucks. One of his green two-toed feet was vibrating so much she could feel the tremor in the cushion she was sitting on. She couldn't help the small smile tugging at the corners of her mouth.

"Are you very bored?" She asked quietly.

"Bored out of my mind." Mikey whined, abandoning his nunchucks to the floor and kneeling at her feet in a flash, his hands clasped together as he looked up at her pleadingly. "PLEASE let's do something?"

Chassidy couldn't stop from flinching at his sudden movement. She felt bad about it since Mikey really did seem mostly harmless, but habits died hard.

"What is there to do?"

"Stuff. Lots of stuff. But not here, I'm getting claustrophobic."

Chassidy stared down at Mikey for a silent moment. "Can we go by the apartments? I forgot a lot of my stuff there when I... left. And I don't want to go alone."

"Sure! First stop: Sunnyview Apartments."

"So, why'd you let him beat you up so much?" Michelangelo asked a few moments later as they made their way down the sewers in the direction, he said, of her apartments.

"I don't know." Chassidy shrugged, not looking up at her companion. "It was bearable at first. It was better than being out on the streets and selling by body for money."

"But not now."

"No. It's only going to get worse, and I'm not going to die at his hands. I'd rather sell my body than be dead."

"Selling your body would eventually kill you too." Mikey inserted, his voice serious and in no way playful. She shrugged.

"Those are my choices."

"Well not anymore. You can stay with us for however long you want. You don't have to live on the streets – live under them!" He nudged her shoulder, a grin splitting his face. Chassidy stumbled a little, cringing from his touch.

He sighed. "I'm not going to hurt you."

Chassidy cringed at the hurt tone in his voice. "You might not mean to..."

Without warning Mikey stopped moving and snatched her hand. Chassidy recoiled automatically, trying to pull her hand from his, but he held fast.

"Am I hurting you?"

No, he wasn't. His grip was firm – there was no way she was going to get her hand back from him if he didn't let her – but it wasn't painful.

"I want to hold your hand. Can I?" He slid his hand so their hands were clasping one another.

"I don't have much of an option, do I?" She stared pointedly at their hands.

"Of course you do!" He chirped and continued walking.

Chassidy muttered under her breath. "I'm starting to realize that means no."

Slowly she grew accustomed to her cold hand being in his warm one, their arms brushing against each other as they walked. His skin was slightly pebbled, but smooth and dry. She could feel calluses on the palm of his hand, most likely from his nunchucks. He was humming a tune she didn't know.

Before she knew it they were climbing up a ladder and slipping into the shadows. She recognized where they were – the apartments were just around the corner.

"You walk. I'll be in the shadows." He told her, then suddenly he was gone.

For the first time in the past couple of days she was alone.

The air was polluted, but at least it didn't have the heavy scent of smoke or sewer tinting it. She stood there for a moment feeling very vulnerable, debating if she wanted to retreat back into the sewers or curl up in the bed in the apartment and put up with Stone.

"Pssst." Mikey's voice called from above her head. "You can start moving now."

Chassidy's feet started to move before her mind did. She wasn't alone. Mikey was still here, though she couldn't see him. She didn't know WHERE he was, but he was there. It was reassuring enough for her to be able to walk to the apartments without scurrying.

Once there she came up against a large problem. Stone had changed the lock on the doors. She stood staring at key she had only because the always kept it in her pockets useless in the keyhole. It wouldn't turn. The key that they hid in the soil under the bush a foot away from the back door was missing. She checked any other places one would hide a key but found nothing.

A slight thump sounded behind her and then Mikey's hands landed on her shoulders. "What's up?"

He didn't pull away when she flinched. He kept his hands where they were and waited for her to settle under his touch.

"The door." She whispered, her voice wobbly from the strain of the night. "They key won't work."

"Oh, easy," he said stepping forward and pulling a nunchuck from his belt. "Ninja very wise, very sneaky." Adopting a thick, obviously fake Asian accent he picked at the end of one of his nunchucks and then screwed something loose. Pulling a few lock picks from the core of it, he flashed a full set of teeth at her and went to work.

"Raphael is the only other one who knows how to pick locks. Leo's too honorable, and Donny'd find another way around it. Raph and I, we're doers. Though nine times out of ten he'd just kick the door in." Mikey explained shrugging. "Raph's a scary ninja. And DUDE, don't piss him off. Because then Deadly Silent Ninja goes out the door and Violent Howling Banshee makes an appearance."

"Noted." Chassidy nodded her head, thinking of the dark, brooding brother she saw so little of. The lock clicked and Mikey opened the door.

"I'm a happy ninja. I don't kill unless I hafta and mostly use my Master Ninja Skills to annoy people."

Chassidy made a beeline for her room.

Their room was ransacked. It looked like Stone had thrown a royal temper tantrum and everything was ripped apart and broken. She stepped over the wreckage and made her way to the closet. She didn't really care about the furniture. Sure it was upsetting to see her stuff strewn about the floor like it was worthless, but what really mattered was hidden in the closet and untouched. Her clothes had been ripped off of the hangers and the boxes full of books and nick knacks on the top shelf had been thrown on the floor.

However her small box of the things she really cared about was untouched on the floor of the closet. In it were little things that reminded her of her parents and little sister, the better part of her life. A few pieces of jewelry and money she had saved up without Stone knowing. She picked up some of her clothing on the floor and found out that Stone had taken a knife to her favorite pieces.

Wanting to cry she grabbed a trash bag from the kitchen and put the clothing that wasn't slashed, her small box, and an extra pair of shoes. From the bathroom she salvaged her shampoo and conditioner as well as her apple-scented bubble bath and toothbrush.

With a bag full of her possessions over her shoulder she joined Mikey in the living room where he was vegetating in front of the television sitting back mostly on his shell and making a nice dent in the cushions.

Being in the apartment had felt like waking up from a dream. Everything – her escape from Stone, meeting mutant turtles, living in the sewers, meditating with a mutant rat – felt like a fuzzy fantasy she'd been floating through.

Seeing him sitting on the sofa, seeing his green domed melon head resting on the back of the sofa while his thick thumb tried to manipulate the remote control smacked her in the face. She stood in the ruin of her old life and realized the past couple of days really had been real. The apartment's dark shadows seemed lighter, the familiar scent of it sharper in her nose. The glare of the television light up his skin, showing the green hue with painful clarity.

He wasn't human. He wasn't normal. And he was real.

He turned around to face her, noticed her standing in the doorway to the bedroom behind him and smiled at her. "Ready to go?"

She watched with a sense of detached fascination as his lips moved, flashing huge white teeth. He didn't really look like a turtle.

"Chassidy?" He asked, blinking at her and then looking behind him at the TV, trying to figure out why she wasn't responding to him. Seeing a car commercial, he looked back at her. Yeah, she was looking at him. Why did she look like her brain had died? "You ready to go?"

Chassidy blinked hard, shook her head and took a deep breath.

"I didn't have much to get." She smiled in a fashion she hopped was convincingly lighthearted. Mikey watched her with suspicious eyes, suspicious, but not willing to call her on it. Determined to lighten the mood and help her cover her moment of bizarre staring, he jumped up from sofa and clapped his hands.

"Here, lemme have your bag." He grabbed the bag from her back before she could protest. "We can take the top-side route home if you want. April and Casey don't like being down in the sewers for too long so I figure you'd like the breath of fresh air." He smirked at her. "Though really there's nothing fresh about the air up here."

Once Chassidy closed the door to the apartment and turned around, she found herself alone again. Chassidy tried to peer into the shadows, searching for the mutant who was her only form of protection at the moment, even reached out a hand to wave in the darker spots. The hair on the back of her neck was beginning to stand up straight.

Chassidy had a very distinct dislike of being alone. Lately it had gotten much, much worse. At this very moment the last thing she wanted to be was alone. Anything, anyone was better than being alone. Even Stone.

"Ummm, Michelangelo?"

"Right here, babe." He called to her but the voice didn't seem to come from any one place.

"I think it'd be better if we went the sewer way." She couldn't help that her voice was starting to creep up in octave. Her back was starting to become very sensitive like there was someone behind her, ready to attack. She leaned her back up against the outside wall of the apartments in an attempt to make the feeling go away.

Mikey fell from the sky to land two feet in front of her. She jumped, startled, and gasped loudly.

"Calm, smooth, happy." He said, making a petting gesture with his hand in the air. "Are you sure you don't want to go for a walk?"

"Positive." She told him, her shoulders still hunched up around her ears, her hands clasped in fists under her chin. "Please. I don't feel safe alone here."

"No problemo." He said and handed her back her trash bag of belongings while he sauntered to a manhole cover and climbed down inside.

"Jump!" he suggested playfully at the bottom of the ladder as Chassidy awkwardly made her way down with the bag over her shoulder. "I'll catch you!" She ignored him.

"At least drop the bag. You're taking too long."

The temptation to drop the bag down on his head was very strong, but she managed to squash it. She was just tense from... everything.

When she finally reached the sewer floor, she refused to give Mikey her bag though he asked for it. "It's my stuff, I carry it." He shrugged.

"Why do you treat me like this?" She asked, more than a little irritated at him. He had been on her back, following her around, talking to her when she didn't want to talk to anyone, touching her when she didn't want to be touched, ever since she met him.

"Like what?"

"Why do you pay so much attention to me, why do you want to talk to me?"

"Because I like you."

That startled her. "What? Why?"

Mikey opened up his mouth to reply, paused, then thought for a moment. "I dunno. I just do."

"You shouldn't; I'm messed up. I'm jumpy, I have trust issues, I'm needy and clingy, but I don't like being touched. And I've got bruises from head to toe – though I'm hardly a pretty sight on a normal day."

"The bruises will fade. And maybe I see you as a challenge."

Chassidy stared at him and he stared back. She wasn't exactly sure what she thought about that. Was she insulted because he was only interested in her because she was a challenge? Was she a challenge? If she was a challenge to Mikey, how would he know when he'd conquered her? What was he trying to accomplish? Making her like him? And why would he care if she liked him or not?

By silent agreement they made their way back to the sewer without saying anything else. Chassidy blanked her brain in self-defense. If she thought one more thought her brain was sure to pop and ooze out of her ears.

Mikey started to hum again. The melody provided her with something light and uncomplicated to concentrate on.


	9. 9

**Disclaimer:** The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles belong to Mirage Studios, Peter A. Laird, and Kevin B. Eastman. I use them without permission, and without monetary profit.

**Author's Notes:** Up until now I was a few chapters ahead of the game. However, now I've run out of chapters between me and what's next so chances are it's going to be awhile until chapter ten gets put up. I'll try to have something finished for next week, but most likely there is going to be a two-week gap between updates. Sorry peeps.

**Chapter Nine:**

"I'm kind of glad the others aren't assigned to this. It's a bit of an ego trip." Donny confided in Leo as they hunched in the bushes beyond the chain link fence around the NAMR building. They both were bundles of suppressed energy. The night before after telling Splinter what they had learned from observation, they had given permission to begin making blueprints of the premises. Donatello had been unable to find the original blueprints even though he had spent the nights he wasn't on observation duty scouring the internet for them. The building had been high security and abandoned before the internet had become such a huge vessel of information.

"It's easiest this way. Raphael is high risk at the moment; his emotions are too raw for whatever reason. And Mikey doesn't like this kind of thing. We don't need the muscles of four just yet."

"I know Master Splinter discourages any kind of conclusion-making, but I think Raphael's bent out of shape over a girl."

Leonardo sighed and nodded his head. "I think so too."

They stared at the building unseeing, their thoughts on their temperamental brother.

"When do you think he met her? Was she like April? Or is that why he's so upset – she didn't accept him?"

Leo placed a hand on Donny's shell and gave his brother a stern, telling glance. Don nodded and sighed, giving up his train of thought, though he hated leaving a problem alone without either thinking it into submission or working it out.

"Either way, he needs a little time to recuperate. He takes things very personally and can't just bounce back from whatever obviously hurt him."

"Yeah."

"Stay here and I'll sneak closer for an hour. If I'm not out by then, come and get me. If I am, we'll switch until we've got the whole place mapped out."

"Good thing I've got a photogenic memory." Donny chuckled. "Right now all we can do is draw in the dirt until we get back to the den and I can draw up a map." Leo grinned and inched closer to the slash in the fence the brothers had fixed to appear normal at a glance.

The Foot were too dependent on the remote location and the few, easily guarded entrances of the building, so the perimeter wasn't well guarded and when someone was stuck with patrolling the area, they didn't look too closely, not expecting to find something suspicious.

If the slash were found, the brothers could find another way in, but for now it was the easiest and most resourceful way.

Bending the fence outward so he could ease his body through the opening, Leo silently made his way to the building and the least monitored entrance.

Chassidy was thinking on the sofa, curled up in a nest of blankets in her own little world when Raphael came into the den. He entered from the sewers.

She had seen him only a handful of times and each time she could feel the suppressed violence radiating off of him like electricity. She did not talk to him, barely glanced at him, and always tried to pretend she was part of the furniture when he was in the room.

However, this time, no matter how still she held herself – like prey sensing a predator nearby - he noticed her.

"You still here?"

She nodded jerkily, her eyes wide and scared.

"Your bruises look better."

Blinking furiously, startled by his words, she nodded again.

"You got a name?" He shifted his weight so his body was angled towards her – she had his full and undivided attention.

"Chassidy." She murmured quietly. "Raph." He replied, jerking his head in a slight nod.

The violence in his demeanor had simmered down. He wasn't nearly as intimidating as he'd been storming in from the sewers.

"You gonna be here long?"

"I don't know. I need to find a new place to stay."

"Just don't touch my stuff and we can be friends." With that he turned on his heel and stormed towards his room.

Chassidy opened her mouth to tell him she wouldn't dream of it, but he had slipped out of hearing range by the time she could take in a breath. Letting it out in a soft sigh, she stared at the floor again, her brain chewing both her encounter with Raphael and what she was going to do now that she had officially moved out of Stone's place.

She had only this day left before she would have to return to work. She couldn't afford to not work anymore, and with enough make up and winter clothes she could hide the worst of the bruises. The sooner she went back to work the sooner she could get out from under Splinter and his sons' feet.

She'd have to find a roommate, though, because she could not imagine living in an apartment by herself. And that meant searching for someone because she had no friends to ask. Maybe she could put a ad out in a newspaper or as Danny to find someone. Or ask Danny himself.

Chassidy felt a pulling on her toes that were tucked under two layers of blankets and blinked her eyes into focus. She found Michelangelo with his arm stuck under the blankets, his grin wicked and unrepentant.

"Hi. You were thinking pretty hard. I got within your person bubble without even trying."

Pulling her toes away from his reach and tucking both her feet into the crack of the cushions, Chassidy gave Mikey a small smile. "Hi."

"Whatcha thinking 'bout?"

"Stuff. Money. An apartment." She rested her crossed arms on her bent knees. He retrieved his arm from under the blankets.

"But I thought you were going to stay with us for a while."

"I am. I'm going back to work tomorrow, and I'll stay here until I can move into an apartment."

"Oh. I thought it would be longer than that." His tone was definitely disappointed.

"I'll probably be here a month before I can afford an apartment and find a roommate."

Was that a _pout_? Chassidy couldn't help staring at what was the closest thing to a pout she imagined his beak-like mouth could manage.

"Where do you work? You want me to walk you there when you go?"

She wanted to be strong enough to tell him no, but her vocal chords and mouth produced "Sure." Instead of the "Thanks but no thanks," she should have told him. She felt guilty about it, but couldn't dredge up enough guilt to change her mind. All she felt was relief. It was so easy to depend on him to protect her. And his protection didn't come with any strings attached.

Or, at least nothing more demanding than friendship. It made it very easy for her to say yes to him.

"I need to be to work at 7 o'clock tomorrow morning, though."

"Wow. You should be in bed, then."

"I'm not tired." She sighed. "I only woke up about six hours ago. I'll just put up with being tired tomorrow."

Mikey shrugged turned around to sit on the floor and wedge his side against the front of the couch near her feet.

"Any ideas about what you want to do to pass the time?" He flopped an arm over her feet and two layers of blankets. She could feel the weight of his arm on the tops of her feet and shifted them so they were hidden farther in between the cushions.

"No. I'll need to take a nap, though, closer to 7."

"But until then?" He tapped his lower lip with a finger. "Wanna take a walk? I can put my disguise on and walk with you – not enough shadows to hide in without it."

"Not really."

"Wanna cook up a snack?"

Chassidy considered that one. She wasn't a good cook, but she did well enough to make hot, filling meals on very little. Stone had complained that she didn't make good food, and it was one thing she didn't strive to become better at because he didn't beat her for it. Just whined about it. Cooking wasn't something she liked doing – she only did it because it was cheaper.

"I am a little hungry."

"Great! Lets make cookies."

Leo returned within half an hour. His face was blank, but that meant whatever he was feeling was strong and he wanted to hide it from his brother. Donny tensed. This wasn't good.

"I don't like this." Leo whispered as they settled in the bushes. "There aren't a lot of Foot inside... in fact it looks like there are only ten or so of them. Either they haven't been as successful at recruiting as Chassidy suspected or they're somewhere else. A more important somewhere else."

"That's not good. If this is their secondary base then we're doomed."

They shared a concerned glance, then watched the NAMR building for a while.

"Here is what I found out so far." Leo said dragging a thick finger through the dirt. "The place is like a maze and there are a lot of big, sprawling rooms. They look like they used to be laboratories. Now the rooms are completely bare, cold, and dusty."

"Let me go in." Donny said after Leo finished doodling in the dirt. He memorized the makeshift map and nodded. "Let's see what I can find out."

"This time take an hour." Leo suggested. "The place's very complicated and confusing, we'll need the extra time. But be more careful."

Donny nodded and made his way to the slit in the fence.

Cooking with Michelangelo was an adventure. Doing anything with Mikey was an adventure but so far cooking topped the list.

The kitchen of the shelter was an absolute mess. He used five bowls to mix the ingredients in and had flour on his face, arms, and legs. Chassidy had managed to get very little on her mainly because Mikey did all of the hands-on stuff. Chassidy oversaw. And chewed on her lip so much to keep from laughing that the inside of her lip was raw and possibly bleeding.

He had talked her into going to the shelter because the den didn't have a stove or oven big or good enough to make cookies in. She tried to back out, saying she didn't want cookies anymore, but he was stubborn and had a craving that would not be denied. Which meant _he_ wouldn't be denied and that Chassidy bent to his will once again.

In the end there were five batches of cookies and 2/3rds of the unburned ones went to the homeless shelter whose kitchen they had hijacked. They kept at least a handful of the best looking ones for the two of them to share. His brothers would have to choke down the borderline batch they had kept. Chassidy had been in charge of the stove since she assumed just from what she knew about him – which wasn't that much, really – that he'd forget about them after two minutes, maybe three.

He proved her right and was engrossed in squishing his fingers in the cookie batter to pull the cookies out in time. The batch was borderline because she wasn't sure how long the cookies were supposed to be in there, and Mikey had no clue either. He made the batter from memory and guessed at the temperature and time.

The good batch came from her watching them like a hawk, completely ignoring Mikey's attempt at distracting conversation. He pouted and complained, and she rolled her eyes at him, her actions hidden as she had her back to him

"Well it's later now, and we did our good deed of the day." He announced, a cookie soaking in the glass of milk he had poured.

Chassidy nodded, enjoying the cold slide of the milk down her throat.

"I'll walk you home too."

"Okay." She felt like such a coward, but she wasn't strong, had never claimed to be. Someday she'd be able to say no, to choose the harder road because it was the strong thing to do. But not now. Not today.


	10. 10

**Disclaimer:** The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles belong to Mirage Studios, Peter A. Laird, and Kevin B. Eastman. I use them without permission, and without monetary profit.

**Chapter Ten:**

After borrowing the shower at April's to clean herself up (she needed it badly), Mikey walked Chassidy to work.

"You work here?"

"Ironic, isn't it?"

"It depends. Do you teach their kick-boxing class?" Before Chassidy could make a comment his light-hearted mood changed. He looked over her shoulder with intense concentration and in the time it took Chassidy to figure out he had heard a car pulling up into the large parking lot he was gone.

"Hey there, stranger." Stephanie, a coworker called when she spotted Chassidy huddling in the shadows near the back entrance of the gym where they worked. "I was wondering if you were coming back or not."

"Yeah. I'm back."

Stephanie stared at Chassidy's face, obviously lingering over the discoloration of her black eye that even heavy makeup couldn't hide. The swelling had gone down, thankfully, though it was still very very tender.

"When are you going to leave that jerk? You're better off alone."

Chassidy shrugged, and hugged herself. "I did leave him. I don't want to die. I don't want to be alone, but I don't want to die."

"Good." Stephanie said, gave her coworker another glance, then opened up the door to the building.

The building was silent except for the shuffling of a few fellow workers and the cleaning crew who had gotten there before them. The girls made their way to the employee locker rooms.

"How long until you take him back?" Stephanie sounded bitter.

Chassidy paused for a moment, then continued to slip into her work out outfit that was stashed in her personal locker.

"That's what always happens. The abused always goes back to the abuser. I'm not claiming to know you that well, but we work together and so I know enough about you. You're going to take him back, aren't you?"

"I don't know."

Stephanie rounded the row of freestanding lockers to level Chassidy with a glare. "Don't. I don't want to see you dead. If you go back to him next time he'll kill you."

Chassidy kept her head down, busying herself with pulling her hair back into a ponytail and touching up her make up.

Stephanie let it go by leaving the locker room.

Chassidy sat down on the benches in between the rows of lockers and buried her face in her hands.

A part of Chassidy knew she wasn't going back to Stone, wouldn't in a million years. Whatever had kept them together before was gone – she didn't want to be with him anymore. He'd been her protector, and because he was hitting her, he wasn't really doing that either. Hadn't been for a long time.

But the other part was weak. She knew Stone. He wasn't complicated and she knew how to handle his moods. If she just steered clear of him when he was in a bad one, she'd be fine.

She chewed over her different parts the entire day while she helped her customers get in shape.

She didn't teach the kick-boxing class, but she knew how to defend herself. Which was what made Stone's abuse ironic. If she just stood up to him, used her knowledge against him he wouldn't hit her.

For some reason whenever Stone hit her, all of the knowledge leaked out of her head and she was left a cowering mess of nerves and tears. She just wanted to make him stop hitting her, and fighting back would only piss him off more, wouldn't it?

Chassidy taught women how to respect their bodies, to know when it was telling them to stop, when it was telling them to go, how much it could take, taught them to enjoy the burn and sizzle of sweat and heat. She taught them that they were powerful beings but it was a lesson she didn't understand. In theory, yes, but not truly.

At first customers didn't was her to being their trainer. She was still a teenager, short, small, and frail looking. She wasn't very strong, she wasn't very imposing, and she carried herself like a porcelain doll instead of an Amazon. But she was a good trainer. Even though she only had her GED, even though she never went to college and even though she didn't practice what she taught, she knew people well, what buttons to push, and how to get people the results they were looking for. When an overweight woman told her 'take no mercy' and then complained about the pain and hunger, Chassidy would egg her on, shout encouragements, coo over the progress and make her feel wonderful, make her forget about the pain and hunger and then guilt trip her into not eating anything when she got home and out from under Chassidy's watchful eye.

Most of them she lost, but the ones who stayed flourished under Chassidy's brand of training. They forgot she was half of their age and instead respected the fact that she knew what she was doing. The only reason why she had managed to keep this job was her regulars. The ones who stuck by her, saw her a little as their daughter, and refused to have any other personal trainer but her.

She wasn't qualified on paper for it, but the gym wasn't that top-notch and what she did know was enough to keep customers coming. She also was a part-time secretary to the manager so when she didn't have customers to train she filed paperwork and made coffee. She tried to make herself as useful as possible so the paychecks kept coming. She needed them. And enjoyed the time away from Stone. Or, she used to.

During her lunch break Chassidy sat on a rowing machine and contemplated the rest of the equipment strew all about the room. Each wall was covered with several panels of ceiling to floor mirrors and had rail bars at about waist height for people to stretch on. From every angle she could see herself sitting on the rowing machine.

She stared at the picture she made. Her expression was jaded, her eyes haunted. She looked like what she felt like. She hadn't known she was so transparent. It bothered her, but not enough to stop staring.

People were working out all around her. They were sweating and grunting with effort. The smell of five different kinds of overtaxed deodorant filled the room but it didn't bother her. By now she was used to it. Between her job and Stone it was an almost permanent smell lingering in her nose.

Which was why it was so odd that her new friends smelled of nothing when they sweated. At least nothing she could detect. Then again her new friends were giant mutant turtles, so that could possibly be the reason.

Chassidy put her hands on the row machine's handles and put settled her body into it. She pulled the 'oars' two times, then four. Despite the fact that she worked in a gym she didn't really work out. It was other people's sweat she smelled.

She wasn't overweight – Stone yelled at her when she ate too much – but she wasn't tone either. She wasn't strong. She wanted to be.

Chassidy continued to pull the oars until he skin was humming with warmth and effort. She was sweating. It hadn't taken much, but then again she wasn't used to exercise. Pushing herself just enough to feel the burn but not enough to hurt, her brain repeated the mantra 'strong, strong, strong, strong.'

Donny was vibrating. His body was thrumming with energy and he was practically brimming with information. He hurried over to Leo's hiding spot, barely able to keep his mouth shut.

"The building is absolutely fascinating!" he finally blurted, his voice a harsh whisper. "I've found years and years worth of research. The farther into the core of the building you go, the most mysteries I found. It looks like that's where the Foot is, so we'll have to wait until they leave for their homes before investigating the heart of the building."

"What is the research of?"

"Believe it or not, genetics. It's a military building, but they've got equipment in there for studying and dealing with DNA. The equipment left behind is broken and very outdated, but it's still there."

Leo's eyes widened. "DNA as in.. cloning and altering it? As in –"

"US! As in us! This building might have clues as to why we are the way that we are. We mutated from a canister of ooze, yes? Well where did that canister come from? We mucked in the ooze by happenstance, but I've always suspected that there was more to the ooze than a simple mistake. It was made for some purpose. There might be others out there like us. Not us turtle us, but us mutated animal us!"

Leo put a calming hand on his brother's shoulder. Donny was shaking. His black eyes were fierce and joyous. His brother finally had his finger on the pulse of a question he'd had unanswered for a long time. Possibly. This could just be a research facility that dealt with DNA funded by the military. Leo wasn't going to jump to any conclusions. And Donny shouldn't either – he'd be disappointed if all of this wasn't what he thought it was.

"Calm down, Don. We need to be cautious and that means slow. I say we return to the den and report to Splinter, then come back when they've gone home and the only Foot we have to deal with are the sentries posted at the perimeter."

Donny's grin was stuck on his face. He nodded eagerly. He'd waited this long to get this close to answers, he could wait a little while longer. They turned in the direction of the city and ran hidden in the tree line, their feet barely making any sound.

Chassidy had been surprised how easy her old routine was to fall into. Because she had been working at the gym for a little over two years it made sense. She hadn't understood how much peace she got out of her routine until that day. She was out of the back door smelling of the shampoo and conditioner she kept in her locker feeling calm and refreshed before she realized she'd spent the past two hours on autopilot.

The only difference was now that she was outside of the building, nothing else was the same. She wasn't going to see Stone in his truck waiting in the parking lot to pick her up. He wasn't going to bitch her out on the ride home about how much trouble picking her up was, even though he wouldn't let her buy a car of her own or register for a driver's license.

She was going to register tomorrow during her lunch break. But getting a car was going to take a little while longer since she didn't have much money to afford groceries let alone a car. But that was all going to change. She'd close her joint account with Stone as well. Then open another one in her name only. Later.

Her heart fell into her feet thinking about how much she was responsible for now that she was on her own. Completely on her own. The only time she'd been this alone was the first few months on the street after running away from home. It hadn't seemed this scary back then for some reason. Maybe because she hadn't understood just how much she had to do to be a functioning person in society.

It all royally sucked and was much easier with Stone dealing with it. He might have knocked her around a bit, but at least she didn't have to worry about _everything_.

Sighing she started forward towards Stone's familiar truck in the same handicapped parking space it always was in. Then she stopped and realized it wasn't supposed to be there. Stone wasn't supposed to be picking her up. Not anymore. How had he known she was working again? She froze, not sure what to do. She shouldn't walk towards the car, but her escort 'home' wasn't here either.

Stone got out of his car, his face smiling, his arms open as if expecting her to run into them. "Chass! Where have you been? I've been looking all over for you, sweetheart. I'm sorry about the other night. I wasn't all there. Sometimes I lose it, and, well, you know."

She shook her head, her hands fisted at her sides. She couldn't move, she was stuck there, too frightened to even breathe.

"I waited up all night for you the first night. I even reported you missing! But you know the police – they don't do anything more than lift a donut to their mouth and suck down coffee. Baby, I'm sorry about everything, okay? I didn't mean to hit you. Can you forgive me?"

The closer he got, the more desperate panic filled her. He musn't get close enough to touch her! She shook her head so hard she was getting a headache.

A blur and then someone was slowly standing between her and Stone.

"What the –." Stone took a step back, his body alert and ready for a fight. His eyes focused on the person standing between them.

"I don't think the lady wants to go home with you."

"You." Stone eyeballed Michelangelo from head to toe. "I know about you guys. But this isn't Foot business. This is personal. Back off and I won't call for back up."

"Go ahead." Mikey sounded like he'd just been promised a candy bar. "I need my morning exercise."

Stone growled and punched at Mikey's face. He would have ducked out of the way if Chassidy hadn't been behind him. Instead he blocked the blow and using his grip on the human's forearm shoved him back a few paces, moving the fight away from her.

"Chassidy, get out of here." Mikey called while deflecting Stone's aggressive attacks. "Go find the others."

"Chassidy don't you move a muscle!" He stopped his attack to face his ex-girlfriend and point a finger in her direction, pinning her in place with his glare. "You stay right there till I'm finished with the freak. You're coming home with –."

Michelangelo crouched and swept a leg under Stone so the man fell to the ground in the middle of his command. He sent Chassidy a look. She nodded jerkily and scurried towards the nearest manhole cover. Her fingers were numb and her entire body shook with fear. All the while she tried to block out the sounds of fighting. She didn't want to see who was winning. If Stone was winning he'd come after her and beat her again. All of his words of concern were only to get her under his thumb again.

The manhole cover was harder to pull up with the stress of the situation pressing down on her. Her fingers slipped and she was scratching them raw trying to get a handhold. Adrenaline was rushing through her veins, but fear was clogging her mind and it took her what seemed like hours to push the manhole cover aside enough for her to slip down.

Even then she scraped her back and pressed her body uncomfortably against the ladder. With shaking thighs and weak knees she shivered her way down the ladder. However at the bottom she had no clue which direction to go in. She couldn't remember which direction they had come from in the morning.

She could still hear the scuffling of Michelangelo and Stone fighting and she knew it was only a matter of time before one of them won. She would be safe if it was Mikey, but if it was Stone, she would rather have a head start.

Picking a direction, she fled.


	11. 11

**Disclaimer:** The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles belong to Mirage Studios, Peter A. Laird, and Kevin B. Eastman. I use them without permission, and without monetary profit.

**Chapter Eleven:**

Michaelangelo was playing with Stone. He hopped out of reach, wriggled past him when Stone tried to maneuver him into a corner, and never laid a single blow in return. He was clutching his nunchucks, but all they seemed to be doing was occupying his hands.

Stone was tiring. He had a lot of endurance, but no real fight lasted very long. He slowed and then put himself on guard, gauging his opponent's stance.

"All done?" Mikey let the heels of his feet touch the ground for the first time. "My turn?"

Stone's eye twitched. His turn? Stone was ready to call a tie and slink away and this freak was just warming up? Familiar anger filled Stone so much so he felt as if his skin would boil off.

Taking his silence for agreement Michelangelo cracked his neck and shook his limbs loose. "Okay, here we go. Ready for me?"

"Bring it, Freak."

Stone was tense as Mikey dropped one half of the nunchucks and began to twirl them. From his own martial arts training he knew that it was more for show than anything else. Getting hit with a flying nunchuck wasn't as hard as getting hit with any other weapon because of the chains – it allowed it to rebound and lessen the blow.

Though Stone had to admit, the freak's form was impressive. The mutant was familiar with his weapons, sure of them. His body was loose and in no discernable stance. He shifted from one foot to the other as if impatient or bored. The longer he whipped the nunchucks around, the more embellished his moves became. He twisted his body around, did a small grapevine with his feet and added in a song.

By the time Mikey got in the first blow Stone was thoroughly off guard. He could not possibly wrap his mind around the audacity of the mutant to act this way in a serious fight. Of course that was what Mikey was waiting for. Stone looked like a fish out of water, his mouth gaping and his chest heaving with rising anger. So Mikey popped him right on the nose.

"AUGH! Son of a bitch!" Stone's head flew back, his hands automatically covering his abused appendage. The next blow was a heel to Stone's eye. "Fuck!"

A foot in the stomach and a fisted nunchuck butt to the back of the head ended the fight. Shoving his weapons into his belt and wiping his hands off he hummed the rest of the song he'd been singing and sauntered cockily to the manhole Chassidy had escaped down.

"No you caint al-ways get what you wa-an't…"

Chassidy was hopelessly lost.

She wasn't surprised, really, considering her escort had been fighting with Stone. She had only be lead to and from her friend's underground den, not truly paying attention to which tunnel lead to where. It all looked the same in the end, how could you tell what made the tunnel on the left any different than the one on the right.

She had no clue how to get back to the den, and knew that if she started to call out for help it would only lead Stone to her, so she kept quiet and continued to walk.

But the adrenaline rush was gone and the effects of a day of work as well as a small amount of sleep were all combining to make her brain fuzzy and her limbs heavy.

Deciding that a rest wouldn't hurt Chassidy found the highest dry spot possible to lay down on and rest her eyes for a little bit.

Michelangelo found her curled up in a ball, dead to the world half an hour later. When he picked her up she had the imprint of the cement on her arms and forehead where they were pressed hard from the weight of her body.

Trying to dust the grit and dirt off of her forehead only made a gross smear that Mikey cringed at. He'd just pretend that never happened and she wouldn't be any wiser. The ground wasn't that clean, and apparently neither was his hands.

Unfortunately for Michelangelo's muscles, Chassidy had picked the opposite direction of the den to run in. Fortunately for Chassidy, Michelangelo's superior sense of smell led him right to her.

Mikey was muttering under his breath by the time they were in the general vicinity of the den. "Had to pick the wrong direction, of course. Couldn't go the right way, no, that was too easy! I'm going to have to hijack April's bathtub for a year to relax this strain away. I think I just heard a tendon pop. Freaking hell, lady, how much do you _weigh_?"

Donny looked up from a thick book on genetics then put it down at the look of pain on Mikey's face.

"Take her!" He pleaded harshly. "I should have put her on my shell, but I didn't think that far!"

Donatello pulled the limp girl into his arms with some effort. "She's out like a light – dead weight is harder to carry. What happened?"

"Her Ex, Sir. Smack-A-Lot showed up and wanted her back. We fought, I told her to run and she ran, all right. In the wrong _direction_!"

Easing him and his burden backwards toward the bedrooms as Mikey's voice rose in decibel, Donatello shot over his shoulder, softly; "I'm going to put her to bed. Then you can start yelling."

Feeling chastised and sorry for yelling, Mikey flopped onto the sofa and stared at the floor until Don returned.

"So nothing really happened to her?"

"Nah. Not that I can tell. Probably conked out after all that stress. She slept very little before work and she works at a gym – not really sure what she does yet – so I figure she's been active all day. Then the stress doubled when Stone shows up and she gets this look on her face like the only thing keeping her from wetting her pants is because she's frozen."

Donny shook his head. "Did you beat him up, or just knock him out?"

His brother's face slowly transformed from a cranky pout to an evil grin. "Gave him what he gave her – a black eye and a broken nose."

"Her nose wasn't broken."

"Oh? Oops." _Not_, his grin silently added. It was obvious Mikey had already known.

Don snorted ruefully and picked up his abandoned book.

"It's fair. She had an almost broken nose and a split lip. I didn't give him a split lip so the broken nose makes it even."

Behind his book Don rolled his eyes.

Mikey fidgeted on the sofa for a few more minutes before retreating in the direction of the bedrooms. "I'm gonna go play in my room or something."

Donny wasn't fooled. "Mikey, leave her alone, she needs the rest." Though he got no response – which of course meant that Michelangelo was going to go into her room anyway – Don knew his brother wouldn't wake her up so he didn't make an issue out of it. The human girl held Mikey's interest for some reason. It was probably the fact that she exuded a fragile air. It was plain to anyone looking at her that she was broken and needed fixing.

Mikey always had been a Rescue the Damsel in Distress kinda guy. It made sense. But it wasn't wise. If he got in too deep all of his good intentions were going to turn around and bite him on the tail. He'd end up hurt if she didn't see him the same way he saw her.

Donatello knew and accepted that he was never going to find a life companion. He was fine with that. He didn't worry that Leonardo would fall prey to the love bug, but he worried for his softer hearted brothers Raphael and Michelangelo. Raphael's harsh and rude demeanor hid soft heart and Mikey didn't even bother to hide the heart he wore on his sleeve.

To avoid the mental images of a broken hearted Michelangelo – something that pulled at his heartstrings more than a broken hearted Raphael – Don turned his attention to his book again.

Raphael decided it was time to get rid of all of the broken stuff littering his room. He'd kicked and stepped on the broken bits and pieces too many times to put up with it anymore. His battery-killing boom box and the mattress were probably the two things he regretted the most. Without the boom box he had no gently murmuring music to fall asleep to and his mattress was lumpier than normal, and even had a spring popping out in the middle, which meant he had to keep himself contorted all night or wake up with the spring in his flesh.

He'd just have to go to the dump and see if he could find something salvageable. Or he could do some duck tape magic.

Throwing his broken stuff away also felt like a cleansing. His life pre-Jackie was over. He was a different person now and everything he had reminded him of her. Of the times he snuck her in here when his brothers didn't know. It was thrilling to have such a forbidden secret right under their noses. She had felt it too. But then again, that's all he was to her – a thrill. Forbidden. Once the novelty wore off she was flouncing off onto bigger and better things.

Raphael knocked over a candle onto his bed sheets when he kicked the dresser in reaction to his thoughts. Mad at himself and the candle that promptly set the sheets on fire, he cursed up a storm, yelling at the top of his lungs while stomping and smacking the fire out.

And so the sheets joined the rest of the broken stuff in garbage bag he'd gotten from the shelter. Good riddance. She's sat on his bed and got her stupid cooties all over the sheets anyway.

That's it, Raphael decided, everything was going. Everything. This chapter in his life was over. For good. No more hoping they'd get back together, no hoping she was just PMSing, no more groveling and begging for her to give him a second chance – not that he'd actually done, that of course, but it was contemplated and that was enough!

Feeling better for making the decision, Raphael shoved everything he could get his hands on into the garbage bag, and then shoved the rest in a corner. He'd need at least five more bags before he cleared the room. But this was a start.

Except for his only childhood mementoes – the red blanket-sized square of fabric his bandana had been cut from (there was no way he'd ever admit it was his equivalent of a baby blanket) and the patchwork black belt Splinter had given him to celebrate his mastery of ninjitsu. There was still so much to learn, but on that day his master had acknowledged that he knew everything that was needed to be a ninja. The other lower ranking belts he'd gotten rid of, but the black belt he'd kept. It was more a symbol than something he used. And Jackie had touched neither with her poison. So both were safe for him to keep.

Everything else was going into the trash heap.

Feeling accomplished and even a little happy he hefted the full garbage bag over his shoulder and made his way to the nearest dumpsite.

_G'bye, bitch! I'm gonna be happy without you. I don't need you. Not anymore and never again._

The next night Leo and Don were once again doing surveillance and judging how much of a threat the Foot posed. They had created a blueprint of the entire complex, except for the one room in the middle with the most security. They were ninja, but so was the Foot, no matter how freshly trained they were. They acted with arrogance in the little they knew, but because they understood how to sneak one or two might get lucky and detect the brothers. And it was the possibility that had Splinter forbidding either to get into the room until otherwise alerted.

Donatello wanted to scream in frustration. He was almost positive information on the ooze that had mutated them was on the other side. Splinter's mandate meant it was achingly just beyond his reach. A small voice whispered in his head about sneaking past the guards, but what he had dubbed his Voice of Reason rebutted that there was no telling what lay beyond that door – fifty Foot or a million. Knowing that kept him hiding in the bushes with Leo.

To distract himself he thought about his missing brothers and what they would think of their situation. "If Raph were here, he'd suggest we make a distraction and lure all of the Foot out here and then count heads."

Leo turned a displeased glare on Donny. "Which is why I'm glad Raph isn't here."

Donny shrugged and turned his head so that Leo couldn't see him roll his eyes. Raphael and Leonardo's constant fighting was all a pointless pissing contest. Don didn't care one way or the other most of the time – just so long as they didn't drag him into it. Sometimes it made him want yell – do _something_ to make them stop it. Leo was stronger of mind; Raph was stronger of body. They needed to realize that and move on.

"So then what should we do? We won't know how many there are of them while they're still in the building, and the only way to find out is to round them all up in one place."

"That big room in the middle of the building – the one with the guard and keypad password to get in – seems like it's their meeting place, where all of them seem to be going and coming from."

"But unless we tag them we won't know if we've already counted them; they're all wearing the same outfit. We could spend all night counting ten people over and over again."

"There's got to be another way."

The duo watched the lazy guard posted outside as they wracked their brains for a solution.

"Roster." Donny whispered suddenly.

"Huh?"

"A roster. The Foot is trying to gather more members, like a club. So they'd keep a tally or a record of who is part of them, and who drops out."

"Do you think they truly have one?"

"It's either that or shoot them with colored darts."

Leo didn't find that funny and Donny wanted to roll his eyes again. "Mikey would have laughed." Donny muttered under his breath after his brother turned his head back towards the building. Leo ignored it.

"Who goes in to find the roster?" Don asked after a long silence.

"I'll do it."

And with that Leo snuck closer to their still undiscovered slit in the fence.


	12. 12

**Disclaimer:** The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles belong to Mirage Studios, Peter A. Laird, and Kevin B. Eastman. I use them without permission, and without monetary profit.

_Reluctantdragon_ – I've taken a couple of years of Karate and a couple more of Tae Kwon Do. I am in no way anything more than just a semi-middling martial artist, and I absolutely abhor sparring because I HATE to be hit and I'm not fast enough or skilled enough to block or duck in time. I've learned only two weapons – short bos and nunchucks. I remember the most about the nunchucks because a) I learned them first, and b) they're easy weapons to learn. Though, wow, I've popped myself in the face too many times with them. The short bos I learned only a little before I quit, so I remember next to nothing. They just sit in my closet looking pretty. Some times I think about starting that back up, but then I remember the sparring and change my mind. Sparring! Growl!

VestqueX, PyroDeScorpio2, In The Clouds, S.H.M.J., RainySunshine – I GREATLY appreciate all of your support and comments. It gives me a major case of the happys to know that people like my fanfic. And I really enjoy that ya'll like my depiction of the turtles. I write what I think they'd say and I try to be true to my opinion of them. happy dance Thank you soooooooo much to everyone!

**Chapter Twelve:**

Donny watched Leo sneak back towards their hiding place with a sinking sensation in his chest. He tried to convince himself that just because his brother wasn't carrying any paper with him didn't mean he couldn't have folded up the papers and stashed them somewhere. Despite the fact that they wore very little to hide things such as folded pieces of paper.

Leo shook his head and Donny's head dropped.

"Nothing." He whispered, as he got close. "I looked in all of the rooms that were office appearing."

Donny sighed. "Here, let me. I know it's a waste of time, but what else are we going to do? I don't want to go back to Splinter without something to report. Again."

"We have stuff to report."

"None of it encouraging, though."

"Yeah, okay, hurry up." Leo waved his purple masked brother away and settled down for a long wait.

Chassidy woke up on the mattress in the room that been dubbed hers in the sewer den. She wasn't sure how she got there from where she'd conked out from the stress and strain, but it was probably because of Michealangelo. The relief left her boneless on the mattress. She was safe.

None of the candles were lit and the shower curtain was drawn over the opening to the 'room' so really she should have had no clue where she was, except of the smell – scented candles and smoke – and the slight give of the mattress beneath her. It was different from when she conked out, and now instead of invasive and scary the darkness was a warm cocoon.

Things weren't hiding in the shadows. She was hiding in the shadows behind five very capable… beings.

More relaxed than she had been in days Chassidy lay on the mattress, her legs tangled up in the sheets, her clothes still fully on, though her shoes weren't. She listened to the silence of the den, save for a scraping and shuffling noise. She listened, not really interested. It was the sound of a place that was inhabited. What a home sounded like.

The apartment she had shared with Stone had never sounded like this. Either it was silent because she was alone, or it was loud with him in it. Demanding.

When she still lived with her parents and little sister she could lay in bed at night and listen to the sound of her parents walking around, watching TV, talking; the sound of the house settling, the refrigerator, the washing machine, the dryer, the air conditioning kicking on and off.

There was no electricity and no wood creaking, no earthy sounds, but it still sounded like a home. Two people were talking, their words unintelligible, but still comforting. The shuffling continued, as well as the talking. More voices were added. Chassidy stretched and with a smile fell back asleep.

Michealangelo pulled the shower curtain covering Chassidy's room open and noticed from the inky blackness that she was either still sleeping or hanging out in the dark. Which was kind of creepy because who would want to do that unless it was a training exercise?

"Chass? Chassidy? Hello?"

"Mmm?"

"You up?"

"No."

"Well you need to be if you want to get to work on time." Michealangelo had asked Donatello for a digital clock of some sort so he could follow human hours and keep pace with Chassidy. Now he didn't feel so stupid for asking for it. Don had sure looked at him like he was. Like he knew what Mikey was doing. How could he, though? Not even _he_ knew what he was doing.

"Work? Work!" And a flurry of noise followed. Mikey backed up into the light of the living room and waited for Chassidy to join him.

"So, I took care of Stone." Michealangelo called to her from his perch on the back of the sofa.

There was a large silence and slowly Chassidy came into the light of the candles in the living room, her face very scared. "Took care of Stone how?"

Mikey felt like he'd been slapped in the face. "I didn't kill him! I just hit him a couple of times. I gave him a black eye and broken nose so he knows how it feels for you."

Chassidy shook her head, her eyes looking like she was in the very pits of hell and knew she was never getting out. "That's what I was afraid of. He's going to be furious. He's going to terrorize me at work, follow me around, hound me about you, and every time he sees me he'll give me what you gave him threefold."

Mikey got very still. "No he won't." Why wasn't she happy? Why was she yelling at him for doing something he thought she would appreciate?

"Yes! He will! He's very determined. You don't have a two year relationship with someone and not know how they'll react to things." Chassidy's voice was rising until it was a shriek and she clenched her hands, trying to swallow her moan of despair. "I'm going to have to move. To quit my job and find another one across town. Maybe even leave the state. He's not going to leave me alone. It's not about him thinking he owns me anymore. It's about retaliation and revenge." She was glaring at him, panic making her tremble.

Mikey didn't know what to do. He hadn't thought of it like that; he'd just seen it as taking down another bad guy, only this time the satisfaction was a little sweeter. Not anymore. Now he felt like he'd just ruined Chassidy's life.

"You still going to work?" he asked lamely. She laughed, but she didn't sound like she was happy.

"What do you think? He's probably lying in wait. No, I need to call in and talk to my boss. See if I can be transferred to another gym and if not I'll quit and look for another job. If I tell him about Stone they'll be less likely to hate me for this."

"I'll follow you to the pay phone." Michealangelo offered, and stood up away from the couch. Chassidy shook her head.

"No. I'm too mad at you. Stay here, it's not that far."

Mikey nodded his head, staring glumly at the ground as she stormed out of the den, still shaking like a leaf. He then eased forward and melted in the shadows in her wake, her silent protector. He was going to make sure Stone didn't have the opportunity to damage her any more than he'd already done, whether Chassidy wanted the help or not.

Raphael surveyed his progress. His room was completely bare except for his red cloth and black belt; both sat folded and protected in the furthest corner. Candles flickered on the floor, lighting up the emptiness. Movement and voices echoed in the empty room, bare of anything to absorb the sound. Raphael was tempted to leave the room as it was for a couple of days so the newness of everything fully sunk in.

Except he'd burned the sheets they'd made love on, ripped the mattress to shreds with his sais. He'd given his brothers the candles she'd picked out and gave the homeless shelter all of the clothes he'd accumulated so he could blend in with the crowd while walking beside her.

Raphael took a deep cleansing breath. Maybe he should meditate. Do a little brain cleansing in the empty starkness of the room, maybe even give into the superstitious little voice in his head that demanded a ritual to banish her memory.

He couldn't help the superstitious voice. Splinter had put it there with his Japanese customs and fairy tales. He hadn't meant to – Splinter taught them that they were masters of their environment. They were in control of anything they wished to be. But he still believed in fate, destiny, and the supernatural. It was an oxymoron that he inadvertently passed onto his adopted sons.

And so, feeling ridiculous, but needing the ceremony nonetheless, Raphael sought out his master and father for a little peace of mind.

Leonardo did a double take when he spotted Donatello making his way back to their hiding spot. There was something obstructing the familiar lines of Donny's carapace and as he got closer Leo could make out a bulky lump somehow attached to Donny's front. That and Donny's mask was holding part of the lump against his body.

Leo didn't need to ask, because as soon at Donny was in speaking distance he explained himself.

"I didn't find the roster, but I did find reams and reams of information on their experiments. I only snagged the reports on the experiments, but what I did glance at lead me to believe that this is it, Leo. This is the place our ooze came from. I'm positive."

Donny untied his mask and shifted his belt so he could expose the large, makeshift envelope. Leo glanced at a couple of pages thrust into his hands by Don and felt his heart leap up into his throat, and then fall into his gut.

"See, Leo, this is it! These experiments are what lead up to the creation of the ooze. There was a purpose to the ooze. And that means that there might me more of us." Donny's breath hitched. "We're not alone."

Leo looked up into his brother's face and found such desperate hope, Leo's eyes filled with tears too. Donny had suffered from their creation. Leo was glad to exist, Mikey took it for granted, and Raph hated that because of what they were, they had to remain hidden. But Donny, ever curious, had truly suffered the not knowing.

Leo clapped his brother on the shoulder and willed the tears to dry up before they fell. Donny wiped at the moisture that leaked past his mask, his mouth is a wide grin that wouldn't be wiped away.

"We can go back to Master Splinter now," Donny laughed and Leo smiled, nodding.

"Lets go home."

About five minutes after hanging up with her ex-boss, Chassidy wished she had asked Michelangelo to come up with her. The anger had faded and the paranoia and fear set in.

There were no other gyms within the area for Chassidy to transfer to, and she didn't want to leave the state, despite what she had yelled at her friend earlier.

Chassidy slid down so she was sitting on the ground, her knees bent, arms wrapped around them. What was she supposed to do now? Where was she going to look for work? How was she going to afford food and an apartment if she didn't have any money.

And she didn't have _any_ money at all. Stone had held the strings to her wallet until now. All she was getting was a paycheck for the day she'd worked, and that wasn't going to be more than pocket change. Chassidy rested a cheek on her knees and let herself wallow in the self pity and depression.

Life sucked.

Chassidy violently flinched at the firm tapping on the glass right next to her ear. She whirled around to find Michaelangelo hunched over at her level, looking apologetic.

"You okay?"

"No." Chassidy shook her head and Mikey stood so he could open the door to the phone booth. Chassidy moved so the door didn't hit her, watching him as her heart flopped over in relief. She wanted to reach up and have him pick her up and just hold her. But she didn't. For starters it was weak and she'd promised herself she would be strong from now on, and secondly he might get the wrong impression. She needed a little TLC, and wasn't picky. Look how long she'd put up with Stone.

Mikey held out a hand and Chassidy stared at it. Her heart started to pick up speed as she contemplated it. Then, hesitantly she reached out and put her hand in his. His hand was warm, tough, and strong. The contact, even though it was so minimal, had comfort sliding through her. She felt comfortable holding his hand. And he didn't let go of her hand either. Just shifted his grip and pulled her along to the nearby manhole.


	13. 13

**Disclaimer:** The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles belong to Mirage Studios, Peter A. Laird, and Kevin B. Eastman. I use them without permission, and without monetary profit.

**Chapter Thirteen:**

Splinter read every page of information that Donatello had smuggled away. He painstakingly went over all of the details, meditated, and then read the pages again. There was indeed a substantial amount of experiments that were performed in the building, some of them thinly veiled, and very suspicious.

Namely the fact that alongside some experiments on human DNA, there were experiments on animal DNA. Nothing to suggest that the DNA was then combined or a mutagen was in the process of being created, but the circumstances were enough to make Splinter very wary.

Indeed, there was something in that building, something huge and possibly illegal. However the question was, was defeating the Foot the main focus of this mission, or finding out what was in the main room of the NAMIR building?

And did it matter which one it was?

Splinter sighed as he unfolded his limbs out of the lotus position and rose with the help of his walking stick. In the living room his sons awaited his orders he felt very much like a washed up general commanding a small, naive, but competent army. He was proud of their skill and abilities, but was it all necessary? He taught the boys ninjitsu out of a need to pass on his knowledge and to keep them safe, out of harm's way. However, since the first day he found them, he hadn't felt like he was effectively keeping them safe.

Every scar, every drop of blood, every tear, he felt responsible for. And he wouldn't always be around to pick them up when they fell. Had he taught them what they needed to know? Or had he only given them enough information so that they found themselves in trouble more than safe. Their large hearts led them to greatly care for mankind, no matter of acceptance or not. They felt their abilities were squandered if not used to protect.

He agreed because it was true, but a part of him wished they weren't so noble and were content with merely protecting themselves. Splinter would endure much for his sons' safety. He didn't know how to let go, so he merely remained silent, watching, seeing if their mettle was stronger than his own. It gave them the mistaken impression that the rat was strong and wise. The words he spoke were those he thought Master Yoshi would speak. He wished they never found out otherwise.

Leo's eyes lit up when he spotted Splinter. The old rat felt a twinge in his heart; warmth spreading, and knew his muzzle was twitching with a smile in return. His Teacher's Pet; his greatest student; his sponge.

Splinter sat down on a beaten recliner that his sons had sat before as if it was a throne, and glanced at each.

Donatello, Michealangelo, Raphael. Alive, eager, young. Splinter wanted to gather them all up and hold onto them. He wished they had never mutated, that he had kept them in that coffee container, safe, warm, protected. Sighing at his weakness, Splinter spoke. He told his students of his plan, his opinions, and his mandate.

They would attack the Foot's new headquarters. But not like the samurai who attacked head on, with what they considered honor. No, they'd attack like true ninja.

------------------------------------------------------

While Splinter meditated Michalengelo took Chassidy to April's apartment. From there, she called Stephanie.

"Chassidy? What the hell happened? Peter announced you weren't working with us anymore and then continued on with the pre-open meeting."

Chassidy's heart clenched in her chest. "Stone's after me. It's not safe to work there anymore. I need a new job, and I need a new place to live. Sleeping on the sofa of my friend's place is wearing out my welcome."

Mikey popped his head into the kitchen where she was huddling in the corner for some privacy. "Not!" he chirped and returned to the living room.

Stephanie didn't hear him. "So what does that mean?"

Chassidy twiddled with the hem of her shirt. "I need a roommate to afford any kind of apartment, and I was curious if you knew anyone."

Stephanie was quiet for a while. Chassidy bit her lip and wrapped the edge of her shirt around her finger until it turned purple and white.

"I know a couple of people, but… they're not your type." Stephanie warned finally.

"I don't care. I don't have a type."

"Yes you do. You're straight."

Chassidy felt her stomach clench as she let herself reveal: "I'm not the most saintly person on the face of the planet. I've done… stuff… most people wouldn't like to admit to. Being gay or straight isn't something I'm going to hold against anyone, let alone someone kind enough to pay half the rent. I don't need a best friend. Just a roommate."

Stephanie sighed. "Fine. Move in with me and my girlfriend. We've got a guest bedroom you could have, and the landlord won't complain too much to alter the contract."

Relief made her boneless and she leaned up against the wall to remain upright. "Thank you. I'll move in after I've got a job lined up."

"Don't thank me yet. You haven't heard the rules yet."

Chassidy shook her head. "I don't care if I was only allowed to live in the closet and had to cook, clean, and play servant."

"Okay, a little overeager. Simmer down."

They continued to talk for a while, mostly about Chassidy's plans and prospects, and how soon she thought she could get a job. Promising to call to update her, Chassidy hung up and puttered around in the kitchen while she processed the whole situation.

Pretty soon she wasn't going to be living in the sewers anymore. Pretty soon she'd be topside and vulnerable with no overgrown ninja turtles to protect her. Part of her didn't want to lose the friendship, but another part was glad. She'd be able to forget they existed and become boring, normal, and safe again. Somehow hanging out with huge mutants who knew martial arts was equally dangerous and safe.

They'd protect her, because they were just that noble, but she'd also be in the thick of things, where all of the action was, and she was more likely to get hurt from her ignorance. It was best that she forgot they didn't exist, no matter how much she liked them.

They took in a complete stranger, made her feel welcome, took care of her, all for no reward. She ate their food, slept in their house and did nothing as a thank you but bring Stone down on their heads. Not that they couldn't masterfully handle Stone. Stone was simple. When he was mad, he fought, and about sixty percent of the time he was mad. He didn't do things with finesse and so for the most part they didn't have to worry about him getting the upper hand. But short of killing him, Stone wasn't going to give in or give up.

Now it was about pride and he wasn't going to let anyone get the better of him. It wasn't about her anymore.

In some ways it made her safer, but in some ways it didn't. She was connected to this whole debacle. She was the one who knew the turtles, and Mikey beat him up. He'd go after her friends because of testosterone, and go after her as revenge. Chassidy sighed. Maybe it was smarter to get out of New York. Maybe run to California, or Ohio, or Alaska.

Mikey came into the kitchen after a while and Chassidy pretended she was debating if she wanted a glass or orange juice or milk.

"Say my name."

"What?" Chassidy blurted, surprised by his words. Talk about random.

"Say my name."

Chassidy grabbed the orange juice and put it on the counter. "Why?"

It took her awhile to find the glasses, but just as she was going to pour the juice into her glass a green three-fingered hand covered the mouth of the glass. She bobbled the container to keep from splashing any on him.

Chassidy set the container down and pointedly ignored the physical knowledge that he was standing at her right. Her body was more than aware of him. His heat was warming that side of her, and her head, against her will, was tilted slightly towards him. If she shifted her weight, she'd be touching him. This close made her aware of the few inches she was taller than him.

"I've never heard you say my name. You haven't said any of our names. You make it a point to look at us when you're talking so we know who you are talking to, but you don't say our names."

Chassidy stood there, trapped. It was true, but it wasn't something she did intentionally. She wasn't comfortable calling them by name. Calling them by their full name seemed personal, and calling them by their nicknames, completely intimate. Like she was a close friend who had known them for years. She was just a stranger. She wasn't going to know them long enough to be able to call them by their names.

"Say it."

Chassidy stepped away from Michaelangelo, out of the small cradle he'd created with his body, and left the kitchen. Or, that was her intent. She got one step before he put a restraining hand on her upper arm. She stopped dead in her tracks and turned her head away from him.

"Why does it matter?"

"I don't know. It just does. A lot."

"Michaelangelo. There, happy?"

"No." The discontent in his voice was proof enough.

"Well, I can't help you there."

"Call me Mikey."

"Mikey. Happy _now_?

"Look at me." His voice startlingly desperate. Chassidy whipped her head around in concern to look at him, see his face. He looked like he was in pain.

His features smoothed, but his black eyes were glittering with an intense emotion. Demanding something of her. Something she wouldn't even know how to give, though a part of her wanted to give whatever it was just to make the intensity go away, to make it all safe again.

"Mikey. Let go of my arm, you're scaring me."

He let her go quickly. "It sounds weird, my name. Like it's not mine. Like you're talking about someone else."

She stared at him, not sure what kind of response he wanted. He shook his head, slapped his hands against his thighs and grinned lopsidedly at her. "Nevermind. Sorry."

Chassidy nodded and fled.

------------------------------------------------------

Michaelangelo tried hard to understand what all the gobbledy gook on the pages that Donny smuggled from the Foot's new HQ. He really tried. He sat down with a expression of deep concentration, but his brain just didn't want to deal with it. It blanked and he was left staring at the black ink like it was another language.

He nodded with his eye ridges scrunched as his brothers discussed the information on the pages. To feign he knew what was going on he traded the pages in his hands for some more splayed out on their dinner table. He knew, in general what they were about, and he knew how to read, but understanding was something completely different.

"So, what does this all mean?" Mikey asked when the conversation lulled.

Donatello turned an accusatory look on Mikey, knowing the orange masked brother wasn't really paying attention. Then his face turned from irritated to frustrated. "Nothing, technically. But what isn't said is suspicious. For a scientific facility that does nothing but experiment, they did some pretty basic ones and never really got anywhere with their research. They figured out things people already knew, and had all appearances of sitting around on their thumbs."

"So, because they aren't saying 'we created a mutagen' they did it?"

If looks could kill, Mikey'd be dead. Don turned his irate glare from his clueless brother back to the pages on the table. "Don't be ridiculous. What we need to do is get into that main room. That's where everything is, I'm sure of it."

Leo was sifting through several pages, glancing at them again and again as if comparing. Don stiffened, scenting something.

"Did you find something?"

Obligingly Leo places the pages on the table so that Don could read them. He pointed to an address.

"This keeps showing up over and over."

The brothers sifted through the pages and found several other pages with the same address on it.

"A lead?" Raph asked, his voice eager and wicked. He was a footwork kind of guy. Thinking and hypothesizing he left to Don, but the action was what he craved.

Donny nodded. "I think so. I'll look it up on the Internet when we visit April's next time. Right now we're going with Splinter's plan."

Raph rolled his eyes, but let it be.

"Besides." Leo said as he memorized the address. "It's in Canada. What're you going to do? Take a road trip there?"

Raph shrugged. "It could be done. Get me out of the sewers, give me something to do."

Suddenly Leo wasn't playfully condescending anymore, "It'll be dangerous. What if you're spotted? What then? I'm not going to let you put us all in danger because you're bored."

"Get over yourself, Leo. I know how to keep to the shadows, too. It's not like you're the only ninja around here."

Mikey abandoned the table in favor of the couch and Donny quickly tried to scoop the paper back into a pile before the punches flew.

The familiar sound of Splinter's tail hitting the concrete floor of the room stopped them all mid-motion.

"It is time." He announced. The five mutants turned their gaze to the couch where Chassidy had been reading a borrowed book. The girl nodded, and stood.

It was time.


	14. 14

**Disclaimer:** The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles belong to Mirage Studios, Peter A. Laird, and Kevin B. Eastman. I use them without permission, and without monetary profit.

**Chapter Fourteen:**

Chassidy tried to hold her head up as she walked along the street on her way to the phone booth. She felt like she should be slinking. Her fear of being attacked by people was stronger than normal. Her friends' enemies were ninja too, so how would she know if they were hiding like her friends were?

However, Splinter impressed upon her the need to look casual and normal. If she ran to the phone booth like she wanted to, not only would the Foot notice, but everyone else. They'd know something was happening.

So she concentrated on putting on foot in front of the other instead, that and keep her face from showing the abject fear that was boiling in her chest.

Of course her fingers were shaking so it took her a few tries to get the quarters into the pay phone. Frustrated with how long everything was taking and how vulnerable it made her feel she quickly dialed the police station.

"Um, h-hello. There is a large group of people at the old abandoned NAMR building outside of town. I don't know what they're doing, exactly, but they're on government property, and I don't think they're paying rent."

Chassidy hung up on the officer who was trying to get her to identify herself. Shivering so hard it took two hands to put the phone back into it's cradle, she turned around and made her way back to the safety of the shadow-ridden alleyway she'd come from.

Just as she slipped into the cool sanctuary of the shadows Splinter appeared before her and she flinched.

"I do not know if they will believe us, so we will continue to monitor and call them until they go."

Chassidy nodded silently. Splinter's whiskers twitched in what she was learning was his version of amusement.

"It is wise to know human's rules. Not only does it allow us to live undisturbed, but also it provides us a silent weapon. Come, let us return to our den and wait."

Silently the turtles emerged from the deeper shadows and crowded behind Chassidy as Splinter led the way back to their den.

It took a week before the police decided to send someone out to investigate the NAMR building. They figured it was a wronged person trying to get even with the group of people who were in the building but compared to guns, drugs, and gangs, a bunch of squatters wasn't a top-of-the-list matter.

When they realized the group of squatters was The Foot – who, though much diluted, was still a crime ring – they called for back up and shooed them off of the premises with lots of pomp and circumstance.

Which then left the newly vacant building free for the turtles to investigate without the need of a fight.

Of course Raphael didn't like this turn of events. So he begged off research-duty by disappearing completely. He was around, he just didn't let his brothers or master Splinter see him and therefore demand his extra pair of hands and eyes.

Chassidy saw him, though only in glimpses. Either it was from the fact that he just didn't care if she saw him or his knowledge that she wouldn't tattle on him anyway. It gave her a feeling of holding an important secret and she kept it to herself guardedly, hoping the angry turtle would like her more for it. Or at least not think of her as a burden to him and his family.

Each morning as Chassidy got ready to spend the day looking for work the turtles had a meeting in the 'dojo' to discuss everything Donatello and Leonardo had discovered while she was sleeping. Michaelangelo stayed behind with her so he could escort her to and from her job search and make sure she didn't get lost.

She still got lost in the sewers, but she was starting to recognize the way. Every now and again Mikey would ask her to lead, but it didn't last long and she always ended up going in the wrong direction, knowing he was watching her, expectant.

So far the only thing Don and Leo had found out was there were definitely some experiments of biological nature performed in that building. However, before abandoning the building the scientists had destroyed all of the damaging information. Either that or they took it with them. All the stuff they left behind were suspicious enough to hint, but never said anything concrete.

It was driving Donatello insane. So insane he started to think Raphael's idea of going to Canada wasn't that bad an idea.

"Nothing!" Donatello screamed. He threw the reams of paper they'd collected as far away from him as he could. However, as paper normally does it only went a foot before flying apart and wafting lazily to the ground.

"How could something so monumental just disappear? How come there are no lose ends? Where is the smoking gun? The spend bullet rounds? The body? The bloody clothes? There's only that tiny speck of blood on the ceiling that screams something happened."

Donatello flopped down on his cot with an explosive creak. The metal was rusted horribly and he half expected it to give under his weight any day now. Pressing the heels of his palms into his eye sockets until the pain made him stop, Donatello tried to keep himself from actually crying in frustration.

"I know there are other mutants out there. I just… need to find their trail. There's no way they stayed put after the government disbanded them. But there are no bodies that say they were destroyed along with the information. No ashes, no bone fragments, no nothing. It's like… they were never created in the first place."

Donatello's throat worked out a nervous giggle. "What if it's all in my head? What if this is just me wanting to find out we are more than a mistake? What if we are a mistake?. What if the whole reason why we exist is a fluke? Whoops! Four mutant turtles and a mutant rat! Sorry! We weren't the only animals that were crawling around in the sewers at the time were we? What happened to the ooze that was there? Did the sewer water wash it away? And if it was washed away, did it dilute it enough to not mutate anything else? And were the filters that clean that sewage enough to break down the mutagen so nothing else mutated when it came in contact with it – or no human mutated when they drank the water, or bathed in it?"

Sighing heavily Donny flopped onto his side, suddenly horribly tired. "Nevermind. Forget it, Don. Wild goose chase."

As Donatello slept, he dreamed of a quest – a quest to gather up as many geese as he possibly could, but they kept biting his fingers and hissing at him with evil red eyes.

Raphael dusted his hands off and surveyed his new domain. It wasn't stylish, but he wasn't one to care about the drapes complimenting the carpet that complimented the furniture. He had enough to get by. Plenty of surfaces to put candles, a new sound system – it was amazing that it got thrown away at all since it was in such good condition – a new bed, and a whole new wardrobe. He'd changed his style even, since the old clothing style reminded him of Jackie.

Other than that the room was pretty bare. But if he continued to browse the dump over the next year or so he'd be able to add more stuff: maybe another recliner, a second mattress for comfort, and maybe even a table and a chair or two.

He hadn't been that successful in staying away from her, though. Because his home was no longer a sanctuary away from her, roaming the streets was a sanctuary away from his family. And his feet still knew the route to her apartment when he wasn't careful. If he didn't pay attention to where he was he'd always come out of his fog right in front of her complex. And once there, curiosity had him peeking in her windows like a creepy stalker.

But he was too curious to care. He just wanted to know if she was okay, how she was getting on. Make sure she wasn't getting her pretty little nose into trouble.

Sometimes she was there, sometimes she wasn't. But the handful of times he'd caught her there, he'd watched her for at least three hours or until she left. He'd gaze at her like the love sick puppy he still was, no matter how much he hated himself for it afterwards. He was weak. He was pitiful. But he couldn't help his obsession.

And he knew it was an obsession. And unhealthy one, no matter how much he kept it under control. He should just sever all ties with her and be done with it, but his heart wasn't something he'd ever been able to control and it wanted to see her. To just look at her. She wasn't his anymore, but it was enough to see that she was okay, happy.

The last time he'd gone there, he'd seen a guy with her. They didn't do anything, but that was mainly because he left before he saw anything more than just talking. His heart couldn't take it. Plus he had no right to protect her. She didn't want him, she wanted freedom, and he'd give her that. Even though he went back to his room to mope about it.

Chassidy had spotted him a couple of times when he wasn't that careful about sneaking around in the lair.

She must have seen he was as lost and lonely as she was, because despite the fact that she'd seen him and she had plenty of opportunity, she hadn't tattled. It made him like her a lot more. Not that he was going to say it to her face. _Hah_.

Love sucked. It never made any sense and for all the goodness you experienced, you got badness ten fold afterwards.

He needed to get out of this town – away from her for a while. Whether Leo or Splinter liked it or not, the teasing possibility of Canada was something he considered more and more seriously as the days passed. If they told him no, he'd sneak off and do it anyway.

Besides, they'd have to eat their words and kiss up to him when he came back if he found out all the answers to the questions NAMR had been to them. Raph was looking forward to that.

If things worked out that way. But until he went up there, they'd never know. And he wasn't going to let his master and brother stamp out a possibility. You never really live life if you hide away from all the threats.

And if Raph was anything he was a temperamental bastard who really lived life.

"Find a job yet?" Mikey asked as he slid down onto the sofa to sit beside Chassidy who was reading a book on ninjas she'd gotten from the library.

"Yeah, sorta. There's a secretary job I might get. If not, the nearby grocery store is hiring and, hey, I might get free groceries or something like that."

Michaelangelo nodded.

Chassidy put her finger in the book to mark her page and glanced up at the mutant turtle that had given her so much attention this past month. He said he liked her, but that meant that there was something about her to like. Right now she didn't like herself, so she couldn't understand why.

"You moving in with your friend soon?"

Chassidy bobbed her head a couple of times. "Yeah, Stephanie and Lizzie are getting their apartment ready. As soon as I know whether I'm going to be a secretary or a grocer, I'll move in."

Mikey's hand shifted in his lap, and then after tapping a finger on his thigh a couple of times, it slowly trekked its way to Chassidy's hand.

Chassidy closed her eyes at the feel of his callused palm skimming over the back of her hand. His thick fingers were so foreign, but they were soft and gentle; as if he was afraid she'd flinch away from him.

"Am I ever going to see you again?"

Silence ruled the den for a long time while Chassidy considered his question, her future, her plans.

"I don't know. Do you want to see me again?"

"Yes!" Mikey exploded, turning his head to stare at her. She opened her eyes and turned her face towards him.

"Why?"

Mikey's hand fidgeted against hers. "I like you. I don't want you to just disappear. I want to be your friend. Forever."

Chassidy blinked several times. "People don't stay friends forever. They lose contact; they change so much they're not the same people anymore, they lose interest."

"I'm different. I keep my friends. Forever. Or, I will. Keep my friends, that is. Forever." Mikey's hand was trembling now, against hers. She marveled that he was so nervous.

Chassidy had been keeping her hand limp in his grip. Because it was so obvious he needed some reassuring she squeezed his hand, and a warm smile lit up his face. She smiled back, cautiously.

"I don't believe you, but you can try to prove me wrong." She whispered and Mikey nodded eagerly.

"I will. Just watch me."


	15. 15

**Disclaimer:** The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles belong to Mirage Studios, Peter A. Laird, and Kevin B. Eastman. I use them without permission, and without monetary profit.

**Author's Notes:** I know that was rather anti-climactic. If I pissed anyone off about how they handled the Foot, let me explain. Ninjas are the exact opposite to the samurai. The samurai considered honor fighting someone face to face, whereas the ninjas would sneak into the enemy's home, slit their throat, and slink into the darkness, winning the battle before it ever began, saving lots of lives that would have been lost in the upcoming battle. This was considered unhonorable because it was done behind someone's back, with deceit. It's very ninja to call the cops on the Foot. Too bad the Foot never thought to call the zoo on our mutants…

**Chapter Fifteen:**

For the first time in weeks Donatello actually caught Raphael in his room. It was obvious that his brother was packing. It wasn't until he remembered the Canada lead that he realized that Raphael hadn't made a big issue of following it up for a reason.

He was going to follow it on his own. Screw what everyone else said.

Donatello had been a little suspicious of how easily he'd backed off, but in the excitement that was NAMR and the possibility of finding out some answers, he'd forgotten.

Raphael slowed in his packing for only a moment – most likely identifying which mutant was behind him and judging him not a threat.

Donatello's body started to thrum at the knowledge of what he was about to do. What he needed to do. He was trembling in anticipation.

"Take me with you."

Raphael paused in his packing again. Then continued as if he hadn't heard him. Don waited, knowing Raph had heard.

"No." He said finally.

"If you don't take me, I'll tell Splinter. If you take me, then I won't be able to tell. I want to go. I need to go. I won't take no for an answer."

Raphael turned to his brother with one eye ridge raised. Donatello was blackmailing him! He was impressed.

"Well then, what choice do I have? Pack your stuff. If you're not ready by the time I'm finished, I'm leaving without you."

"I'm ready now."

Raphael glanced pointedly at his empty hands. Don shook his head. "If I take anything they'll know. If everything is in it's place it'll take longer for them to realize I'm not coming back until we chase this lead down even if it dead ends."

The red masked turtle blinked hard. He didn't even bother to mask his surprise. Then, without a word he put his stuff back where it belonged and got dressed in a gray jacket with a hood and a black denim trench coat on top.

Don nodded and retrieved his own topside disguise.

Mikey was shifting from foot to foot as Chassidy descended the ladder to the sewers. He was staring pointedly at her face, trying to determine her mood from it. As she jumped the last rung he twirled her around so he could get a square look at her face.

A wide, happy smile blossomed, and her eyes twinkled. "I got the job. Jobs! The secretary job is part time so I went to the grocers for the extra money. When I can go full time with the secretary job, I'll quit the grocery store." She jumped up and down a little in her excitement. Mikey couldn't help grinning along with her. Her joy was infectious.

Bouncing up and down a little with her, Mikey tried not to let the fact that his heart was sinking in his chest show on his face.

"I'm so happy for you!" He said and let her shoulders go. She cleared her throat and the smile died from her face, as if she was embarrassed she'd been so elated.

"Well, it's a start. And the money is good enough. Enough so I can pay my share of the rent at Stephanie's place."

"How soon until you'll move in?"

"I want to move in today"

Something flashed behind Mikey's eyes. It was only momentarily and it didn't dim his grin. "I'll help. It'll give me something to do."

Chassidy nodded. Then she shook her head.

"No. Stephanie and Lizzie don't know about you. They'd freak. They can't know about you." A look of fear crept into her expression and Mikey's heart flopped once, and then died.

"I could stick to the shadows." He offered lamely. She shook her head again.

"I don't want to chance it. And I don't have that much to move. Just my trash bag full of stuff."

"What if Stone finds you?"

Chassidy blinked in surprise as if she'd forgotten about the threat Stone posed.

"I don't know." She finally said in a small voice. "But I'll deal with that when or if it happens."

"Call me. Come to me. Let me know if he does find you." Michaelangelo scooped up one of her hands and clasped it between his. He looked her in the face, and her glance shied away from his.

"I don't know. I don't want to trouble you more than I already have."

"No! No trouble at all. Promise me you'll call me. Promise me you'll come to me if he shows up again."

Chassidy turned her face away. Mikey's dead heart made a slow slide down into his stomach. His stomach then acted like it was trying to digest his heart. It hurt. She was going to cut all ties with him and he'd never see her again. All of that talk about being friends was a lie. Just something she was saying to make him feel better or leave her alone. Most likely leave her alone.

Mikey gently let go of her hand and she quietly returned it to her side.

"Come on." He said, trying for jovial and missing. "Lets get your stuff ready."

Chassidy shuffled behind him as they made their way back to the lair. She felt bad since her obvious reluctance to keep in touch was effect him so much, but it was better this way. She wasn't worth his time. Not right now.

It didn't take long before Chassidy was standing in the shadows of the apartment complex she was going to move into. Michealangelo was shuffling his feet nervously, glancing up at the door Stephanie had claimed to be their apartment, and back down at Chassidy.

It was such a short distance but once she crossed it and closed that door their fledgling relationship would wither and die. It wasn't that it was impossible. It's just that she wasn't willing to nurture it and see what it could turn into. It frustrated him, but mostly it made him want to cry.

"Would you believe me if I said I loved you?"

The pain and tears in his voice had Chassidy cringing. One last bid for a future in each other's lives. Quietly she shook her head. A muted sob shuddered from his lips, as he nodded his head. He'd known. He just needed her to say it herself.

Without another word Mikey turned on his heel and retreated to the sewers. Her heart clenching in sympathy, Chassidy walked up the stairs and knocked on the door to her new apartment.

"So, Mister Genius Whose Mind Thinks Of Everything," Raphael teased, his voice thick with sarcasm, "How are we getting to Canada? Walking?"

Donatello nodded. They'd stopped by a gas station's quickie mart to get a few supplies and had gotten an atlas as well. It was bulky, but after buying it, Donny had ripped out pages that showed New York and Canda and stuffed them in his pocket.

"There's danger in hitch hiking, and we're in shape: we can handle roughing it. And we don't have enough money to spare for a taxi. It'll take longer, but the others will have to travel the same way."

Raph nodded and walked beside his brother, trusting him to lead the way.

"We could do a bounty job for extra cash, then it'll take less time."

"But doing a job takes time. And the others will be able to track us."

"If we use our alias. If we just turn in a bounty under a new alias, they won't know."

Don nodded. Perhaps.

"If we really need the money. Let's just walk first."

It was a week before the others finally realized Raphael and Donatello weren't coming back any time soon. At first they supposed Raph was being tempermental and Donny was pouting because of the outcome of their investigation. When Donatello didn't come back after five days, they knew something was up. They expected this kind of behaviour out of Raphael, but not Don.

It was Splinter who hypothesized their trip to Canada. And it was Splinter who convinced Leonardo to not go chasing after them. For starters, they had a very large head start. And for another, they knew how to take care of themselves.

In the end, Raphael and Donatello would return. It was their jobs to be there to come home too. If his sons needed rescuing, they would call for help, Splinter had no doubt. They needed their family to trust them enough to let them go.

Leonardo did not chase after them like he wanted to. But only because Splinter told him not to, and unlike his brothers he knew how to follow orders.

And, in the end, Raphael and Donatello did return…

The End of Part One

**Author's Post-Story Notes:** This series has really taken on a mind of it's own. Every chapter I wrote came up with a different bend than I originally had thought it to be, and all of those bends created a web I hadn't expected. I'm happy about it because it makes the story more interesting and fun to write, but it's very surprising. This series was supposed to be cut and dried. Mikey ends up with a girl, the end, Raph ends up with a girl, the end, so on and so forth until they all got paired up. However at the rate it's going no one romance is staying the part that it's introduced in. Even though this part is over, Mikey and Chassidy aren't together. They've started down that road, but it's proving to be rockier than I expected. Since Mikey's so sweet and Chassidy's in desperate need of his sweetness, I thought they'd just fall in together and be cute and sweet together. Hah. Hahaha.

Raphael's next. And there's a lot I have planned for him. Lets hope that the story continues to bend in a good web-like way. And as a hint: everything Chassidy and Mikey were intended to be Raphael and his girl isn't. And no, it's not Jackie that he ends up with.


End file.
